Bittersweet Sugar
by The-Other-Ghostwriter
Summary: Read "Sugar" and "Sweet" first. Bubbles goes missing and Mojo Jojo decides to destroy Blossom and Buttercup once and for all. But after a life-changing accident and Bubble's surprising return, will he finally have his fight? Implied Him or Mojo/Bubbles.
1. Prologue

**This is the threequel to "Sugar" and "Sweet", except this one's going to be a chapter story. Have at it.**

**Bittersweet Sugar**

After Bubbles had left his home to see her sisters, Mojo half-hoped that things would be patched up with them. He really didnt want to see Bubbles the way that he had seen her that night. On the other hand, he really did want to see her leave the Powerpuff Girls for good...but he could hold onto _that_ dream...you know, the one between becoming a hibachi master and ruling planet Earth? Yeah, that one.

But now, two days later, he was somewhere between livid and--for lack of a better phrase--pissed off. Things had been quiet with no real word from Bubbles, but he'd thought nothing of it until Buttercup had practically broken down his door, 'asking' if he knew where Bubbles was. He didnt even need his telekenisis to tell him that things between Bubbles and her sisters had gone from bad to worse, and instead of saying that he didnt know where she was and why should he even care, he had nearly torn Buttercup's head off, demanding to know what had happened.

So he had gotten smacked halfway across his observatory and into his bookshelf with nothing more than a 'why the hell do you even _care_ anyway!?'. He had gotten right back up and decided to find out himself. He didnt find much, other than that there had been a fight. A _big _one. The holes in the Utonium residence was more than proof of that. He found a few more details by interrogating one of thier neighbors, who had heard a few things along the lines of 'traitor', 'no longer a Powerpuff', and 'Antidote X'. That, and a lot of 'blue fire'.

Upon further examination of the Utonium house, he noticed that most of the damage was from what looked like fire. He hadnt a doubt in his mind that Bubbles had decided to show off what she _really_ had. Mojo deducted that she had gone a little too far, and someone had dumped Antidote X on her to stop it. But if that was the case, how could she have gotten away without her sisters finding her? Where was she now? What had really happened?

These and many other questions ran through Mojo's brain.

And he didnt have a clue as to how to answer them.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1

* * *

**

A year. A whole year. A _whole year_, and still no sign of Bubbles.

Mojo Jojo had searched for her for a whole year, with no results. Each day that passed with no answers, he felt the contempt for those two accursed sisters of Bubbles' grow and grow inside of him. It was _their_ fault that she was missing; that the closest thing he had to a friend was gone. He spent most of his nights staring angrily at the pink and green ribbons of light that made their final rounds around the city; he felt his sharp fingernails dig into his palms angrily as he watched them go about their businesses like nothing was wrong; like their sister wasnt missing, or like she had never existed.

It pissed him off to no end. He tried not to bother too much with them for the time being; he had had plans for them. He had planned to make them watch from the sidelines as he and Bubbles had their battle; to have them watch on with awe and shock in their eyes as the two people they never took seriously had at it like _gods_ among men...that was his plan for them.

It _was_ his plan for them.

Now all he wanted to do was kill them. Not destroy them, but _kill_ them. He had never felt so much..._evil _in his heart as he did when he found out that they had something to do with Bubbles' disappearance. Let alone, used Antidote X on her. Now, she was missing _and _powerless. No...not powerless....superpowers or not, Bubbles has something that they didnt. Exactly _what _that was, he really couldnt place. But Bubbles had always been different from her sisters for some reason, looking back on it. Something had always been off about her...but he couldnt place it.

He watched on as the pink and green light vanished with the sun, and growled softly to himself. Enough was enough. He wanted some answers, and one of them was going to give it to him--once and for all.

He found his chance just three days later, when he had Buttercup cornered all by herself...

* * *

Buttercup groaned as she opened her eyes. Her head was killing her, and she could taste blood in her mouth. She clamped her eyes shut for a moment before reopening them and looking around. It took her a moment to realize that she was in Mojo Jojo's lab, and she was cuffed to some kind of vertical table. She yanked at the restraints around her wrists, but they didnt come loose.

"Okay, what the hell is going on!?" she demanded, attempting to laser-beam the restraints off, only to find that she couldnt.

"I'll tell you what's going on."

Buttercup's head snapped up to see Mojo sitting across from her almost calmly, most of him shadowed by some large device to his left. But his eyes were practically glowing red from the shadow, and she could see that his hand was clenched very tightly around the other. She saw him make eye contact with her.

"Yeah, you gonna tell me, or waste some time trying to 'destroy me'?" she retorted, putting a patronizing tone on the last two words. In almost an instant, she felt a hand clamped around her neck and Mojo standing right in front of her. _'How the hell did he do that!?'_ she thought wildly to herself. He was so fast! And even though the hand around her neck wasnt tight enough to cut off air, she could tell just by the twitching muscles underneath the glove that there was a _lot_ more power in that hand, and that he desperately wanted to use it.

"I am not going to destroy you," Mojo hissed, his hand twitching. "Yet." He growled low in his throat, and for a moment, Buttercup was actually unsure as to how this was going to turn out, other than her escaping unscathed with Mojo in a bloody heap. Mojo stared at her for a moment before continuing. "All I want is for you to answer something for me. Do that...and if I'm satisfied enough with the answer, then I'll let you go. Maybe," he added.

_'What, is he insane!?'_ Buttercup thought. Scratch that, yes he was, but the request itself was insane. But shit, if all it took was a stupid answer, then fine! "What?" she finally asked, her hands clenching in another bid to escape. Mojo glared at her for a few more moments before speaking.

"Tell me what happened a year ago," he said. "Tell me what happened to Bubbles. Tell me why you took away her powers and abandoned her."

Buttercup just stared at him like he was a fucking loon. "Why the fuck do you even ca--_accck!_" Mojo's hand clenched hard around her neck, the sheer power in his hand threatening to break it.

"_Do not question me as to why I do or do not care!_" he shouted back at her. "My business is my own, and I want to _know_!" He loosened his grip fractionally to give Buttercup some breathing air. She coughed for a moment and glared back at him.

"You're fucking psycho, you know that!?" she spat at him. "And you dont know a damn thing! We _had _to do it! She was going just as psycho as _you_! She was gonna kill us and the Professor if we didnt do what we did!"

Mojo took his hand off of Buttercup's neck after a moment of thought. He turned his back on her, and Buttercup was just wondering what was going on when the restraints suddenly came loose. She stumbled away from her restraints and stared at Mojo's back. Finally, he turned around, his eyes not quite as red, but not back to his normal pink color.

"...Tell me what happened," he said, his voice low and dangerous. Buttercup could feel that her powers still werent quite back yet, and Mojo was apparently not in the mood for bullshit. She cleared her throat and nodded.

"...Fine," she finally said. "I'll tell you...but only because it had something to do with _you_, anyway."

* * *

**I'll pause it right there for now. Next comes the story.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2

* * *

**

**_One year ago..._**

_Buttercup stood next to Blossom as the latter paced back in forth in the Utonium living room, almost livid. Hell, she was worried about Bubbles, too, but she was also angry at Bubbles for not telling them where she was going. Not that she could completely blame her. She and Blossom had hurt her feelings really bad; he could remember the hurt on her face just before she and Blossom left for last rounds after they had gotten into that fight. But still, it gave her no reason to give everyone else a heart attack!_

_Finally, the door opened and Bubbles walked in with a quiet "I'm home". And that's when things went straight to shit._

_"Bubbles where the HELL have you BEEN!?" Blossom demanded stalking up to her. Professor followed, his arms crossed._

_"Blossom, language!" he reprimanded before turning to Bubbles. "Young lady, you have a lot of explaining to do." His voice was calm, but Buttercup could tell that he was on the verge of grounding Bubbles until she was married. Bubbles wrung her hands together and shuffled her feet a little. _

_"...It's no big deal," Bubbles had said. "I just stayed at a friend's house."_

_"What friend?" Professor demanded. "Because those clothes that you're wearing do not look like girl's clothes."_

_He seemed to have lit a light bulb in Bubbles' head, because the blonde girl's eyes widened and she looked down at her clothes. "I...I was all wet, and he just gave me some dry ones..."  
_

_"So you WERE sleeping at a boy's house!" Blossom cut in, pointing an accusing finger at her sister. "Bubbles, you know better than to be sleeping at a boy's house! It's not decent!"_

_"Screw decent!" Bubbles had shouted back, surprising everyone in the room. "You guys really hurt me, and he was kind enough to take me in! Nothing happened, alright!? He took me in, gave me some dry clothes because it was FREEZING cold raining last night, then we talked and he gave me some of his dinner, we read in the den, and I went to sleep! That was it! What's so wrong about that!?"_

_Her uncharacteristic outburst seemed to leave the family mute for a moment, but the Professor spoke up again. "Bubbles, it still wasnt proper behavior!" he said. "Do you even KNOW this boy?"_

_"Yes I do," Bubbles shot back. "I've known him since I was a kid, and he's NOT a BOY."_

_"He's a grown MAN!?" Blossom cut in again. "Damn it, Bubbles, what's gotten into you lately!?" The Professor, ignoring Blossom's language for the time being, nodded in assent._

_"Indeed, Bubbles," he agreed. "Your behavior has been out of control lately. Why dont you ever talk to us anymore? Is it just late rebellion, or is it a real problem?"_

_Buttercup, who had stayed quiet through all of this, noticed that Bubbles looked like she was about to break something. Her hands were clenched tightly and her jaw was tight. Buttercup recognized that look better than anyone; it was killing intent._

_"Problem?" Bubbles ground out softly, as though she couldnt believe Professor had the gall to even ask that. "PROBLEM!? YES, there's a problem! It's THEM!!!" She pointed at Blossom and Buttercup, her hand shaking violently. Before Blossom could retort, Bubbles continued. "They say that I'm no longer worthy of being a Powerpuff Girl--and all because I said that I was sick of doing what I was CURRENTLY doing! I'm SICK of getting the simple 'problems'! I'm SICK of not being taken seriously! I'm SICK of being treated like I'm NOTHING! I HAVE the skills! I HAVE the power! I HAVE the abilities to outdo even BUTTERCUP in battle, but NONE of you really believe me!"_

_"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Bubbles!" Blossom cut in, holding her hands up as though to stop the barrage of words. "Dont get carried away now, alright?" Bubbles let out a loud sound of anger._

_"I'm NOT!" she shot back. "You're going away to college, Blossom! Buttercup is going to need some help, whether she thinks so or not, and I CAN HELP! I KNOW what I can do, but you dont even bother to know, too! You just dont CARE!!!"_

_"Alright, alright, Sweetie," Professor said, holding his hands up in a calming motion. "Just calm down. It's alright..."_

_"No, it's NOT alright, Professor!" Bubbles shouted back, tears coming to her eyes. "They said that I was no better than a villain, last night! That's what they said! Just because I didnt want to be a hero anymore because of all the shit they put me through! It's not FAIR!!!"_

_"Okay, we were being too harsh," Blossom said in a calming manner. "We were wrong to say that, Bubbles. We know that you'd never become a villain...you dont have it in you to become a villain, and we know that..."_

_'Wrong thing to say', Buttercup immediately thought as she saw the anger rise in Bubble's eyes. Her blonde sister's hands clenched tighter, and Buttercup could see something light--almost unnoticeable blue--coming from her hands. _

_"...You're wrong," Bubbles hissed, her eyes narrowing and glowing a more iridescent blue. "You're all wrong. I have ALL it takes to be a villain. The only thing stopping me is my love for all of you! Dont make me throw that away! I'm warning you now..." Her eyes went slightly back to normal. "...If it wasnt for Moj--" She cringed slightly. "--My friend last night....I dont know what I'd have done."_

_Blossom stared at Bubbles. "...Bubbles, were you about to say 'Mojo'?" she asked. Buttercup cringed this time. Sometimes her sister was so dumb, not knowing when to stop. Bubbles suddenly looked surprised and fearful._

_"N-no," she said quickly. Blossom crossed her arms._

_"Yes, you were!" she retorted. "You were at Mojo's last night! Is that was this is about!? I he manipulating you somehow? You can tell us, Bubbles!"_

_"He's NOT MANIPULATING ME!!!" Bubbles screamed back, that blue illuminating her hands again. "He's been a MUCH better friend than YOU two are!"_

_"Friend?" Buttercup couldnt help but ask. Bubbles turned her eyes toward her. _

_"Yes, Buttercup," she hissed. "My FRIEND. Mojo's my FRIEND, and he took me in last night. He helped me..."_

_"Are you STUPID Bubbles!?" Blossom shouted, and again, Buttercup couldnt help but cringe at what Blossom's condescending tone might bring. "HOW could you go to MOJO'S!? He could have DESTROYED YOU!!!"_

_"NO, HE COULDNT HAVE!!!" Bubbles hollered right back. "That's my POINT! You treat me like I'm an invalid BABY! But I'm NOT!" Now Buttercup could plainly see that it was freaking FIRE coming out of Bubbles' clenched fists. Where the hell had THAT come from!? "And I can PROVE it! Right here, right NOW!" With that, she flung her fist out, shooting a ball of blue fire at Blossom. _

_Blossom shrieked and dodged out of the way, and the fireball hit the wall and damn near incinerated it. "What the HELL!?" she shouted. Bubbles didnt even pause for a breath. Her eyes glowing an angry blue, she held her hand palm-out at Blossom and revved up another fireball to shoot at her._

_All this time, Professor was shouting for Bubbles to calm down and stop it. Buttercup figured she had no choice but to fight, and charged at Bubbles. Bubbles didnt even look at her, and instead crossed her free hand under her outstretched one and shot fire at Buttercup. Buttercup barely raised her arms to shield herself before it hit, and she was thrown all the way to the other side of the house, crashing right into the lab door. _

_"Shit, Bubbles has gone INSANE!!!" she screamed to herself. "She's gonna fucking kill us!" Suddenly, an idea slammed right into her head, and she tore through the Professor's lab until she found what she was looking for._

_Back in the living room, Blossom was attempting to use her ice breath on the fire, but the ice melted into water before it even got NEAR the fire. Around them, things were burning at a rapid pace, and the Professor was trying to find a way out that didnt include a wall of fire. Blossom finally stopped using ice breath and took a shot with her laser vision. It hit right on target, but barely made Bubbles flinch. If anything, it only made her more mad. Letting out a loud battle cry of killing intent, Blossom watched, horrified, as Bubbles' entire body burst into blue flames and revved up for one final attack. Blossom, shielded herself, preparing for the final blow, when she heard Buttercup come flying in screaming,_

_"EAT THIS, TRAITOR!!!" _

_Blossom looked up in time to see Buttercup hurl something at Bubbles, which crashed into Bubble's chest, causing Bubbles to scream in what sounded like pain and race out the door in a fiery flash. There was a huge explosion of blue light...and then nothing. _

_Blossom, Buttercup, and the Professor looked at each other for a few moments before racing outside to find Bubbles. But all they had found was an incinerated front yard, and burn-marks in the shape of footprints leading away from the largest burn hole in the ground before they vanished into nothing. _

_"...Did...did she actually get away?" Blossom stuttered, wrapping her shaking arms around herself. Buttercup examined the burn marks._

_"...I cant see how," she replied. "I threw Antidote X on her...she couldnt have flown away..."_

_"...Maybe it was just enough Antidote X to get rid of her fire ability," Professor offered, sounding like he was about to faint any time soon. Buttercup stood next to him in case he did so. _

_"...We've gotta find her," Blossom suddenly said, taking off._

_"WAIT!" Buttercup called after her. "She needs some time to cool off, Blossom! What happened just now...it was bad. She's not going to come right back, if she got away." Buttercup looked like she was about to cry. "...We messed up, Blossom...we messed up big time...give her some time, alright...?"

* * *

_

_**End flashback

* * *

**_

Buttercup crossed her arms over her chest as she finished her story, staring at Mojo. "...I didnt see any other choice," she finished up. "Bubbles was going insane on us, and I just had to do it...I'm starting to think that Blossom had been right; that it _was_ just enough Antidote X to get rid of her fire powers." She looked down at the floor. "....I realize that we messed up...and that she was right. She _did_ have more power than we have her credit for...." She looked back up at Mojo. "When I couldnt take it anymore, I started looking for her myself. I came to your place first, since she had said she was here the night before. When you had asked me what happened...I was just so mad. I really didnt think you'd care what happened..."

"...I do care," Mojo finally said, his fists clenching. "I care a _lot _more than you can believe..."

Buttercup stared at Mojo, confused. "....Mojo, why _do_ you care...?" She shrieked and ducked when something was hurled at her head. Mojo growled at her, his eyes flashing red again.

"Get out!" he demanded, pointing to the door. "Get out before I kill you now!" Buttercup didnt need to be told twice. She hauled ass out the door and few right out the window in her bid to get away. After she left, Mojo sat in his lab for hours, staring a hole into the wall.

...Those two were going to pay.

* * *

**Whew...**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3

* * *

**

After hearing those extra details in the story, Mojo had sat contemplating in the same place for hours, going over the story in his head. He could understand most of it...but what threw him off was what happened at the end...it was like Bubbles had vanished into thin air...something told him that if things had gone differently, then she would've come back to his observatory. But she didnt. And something was very wrong there.

Finally, after several hours of going over every detail he could remember and still coming up with nothing, Mojo retired to the deepest part of his lab to work on something he had made a few years ago, but had always hoped he would'nt have to use.

But now he didnt think he had a choice...

* * *

He must've dozed off, because he suddenly jerked awake, nearly upsetting a beaker full of some dark purple liquid. He rubbed his tired and sore eyes and looked at the clock. It was four in the morning...three days from when he started working. Great... He let out a loud yawn and set his work aside. No use making mistakes because he was too tired to focus... He left the lab, stretching his sore limbs and headed for his bedroom to pull off a few hours of sleep before starting up again.

Meanwhile, back in his lab, he had unknowingly set the beaker on top of a heating plate, which, albeit on low, was still on.

* * *

He didnt know how long he had slept, and quite frankly, he didnt really care. Mojo walked into his kitchen, preparing to put a pot of coffee on, when a loud explosion from outside made him drop what he was doing and run to the nearest window. What he saw nearly gave him a heart attack.

_Blue flames...._

Forgetting about everything else, Mojo threw on a jacket and raced outside toward the flames, all the while his heart racing. It _had_ to be her! It _had_ to be! The explosion wasnt far from the park, so he contented himself with running the whole way there. Halfway there, he absently thanked himself for deciding to get and stay in physical shape, because his lungs were burning like hell, and not from the light mist of smoke that was drifting in the air. Finally he came to the site of the flames, and felt his heart drop all the way to the bottom of his stomach.

It hadnt been her. It had been a simple chemical truck accident; those chemicals had created the blue color. Mojo felt the urge to destroy something with his bare hands, and turned to walk away when something else caught his eye. Not far from the site of the crash, a convenience stand that sold magazines, cigarettes, newspapers, etc, had turned over, and the merchandise was scattered everywhere.

And right in his path was a carton of the same brand of cigarettes he had seen Bubbles smoking.

Mojo absently knelt down and picked them up, examining the cart. Unburned, unscathed, uncrushed. Perfect condition. Feeling a sudden rush of both angst and anger, Mojo clenched the carton in his hand and glared a hole into it. If he believed in God, he would have thought He was screwing with his mind and emotions. He stuffed the carton in his jacket pocket and made the long, agonizing trek back to his home, where he felt some more destructive science was in order to make himself feel better.

* * *

It took nearly a half hour what had originally took less than seven minutes running to walk home, but Mojo didnt care. He took his coat off and tossed it onto the couch, then headed back to the kitchen for that coffee when suddenly an alarm went off.

Mojo had several alarms--there was the 'Powerpuff Girls approaching' alarm, the fire alarm, the observatory security alarm, and the 'something's gone pear-shaped in the lab' alarm. This particular one was the 'something's gone pear-shaped in the lab' alarm. He cursed aloud and raced to his lab, darting around to try to find exactly what was wrong when he remembered the back lab. He ran in and immediately noticed that the purple liquid in the beaker was on the heating plate, and it was glowing and bubbling violently.

Letting out a string of words that would've made Him blush, he rushed forward to turn off the hot plate and remove the beaker when the beaker suddenly exploded, showering him in the purple liquid in a scalding torrent, the amount of liquid that landed on him seeming too much in quantity than the beaker could hold. Overcome with pain and the shock of the blast, Mojo Jojo fell into painful unconsciousness.

* * *

**Hope no one thinks I'm killing off Mojo. YOU HORRIBLE PEOPLE, NO I WONT!!! *shakes fist***


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_"He's going to be okay, isnt he?"_

_"Oooooh yeeesss....he'll be perfectly fine, my sweeeet....."_

_"Are you sure?"_

_"Absolutely....in fact, he might even be BETTER than fine....just wait...."

* * *

_

Mojo groaned, every inch of his body in pain. He shifted around a little to see if anything was broken, but so far, nothing felt broken. One couldnt be too sure, though, so he slowly shifted around inch by inch until he was kneeling on both hands and and knees. So far so good... He groaned again and put a hand to his temple...and froze. Something did _not_ feel right. He pulled his hand away and looked at it. It looked about normal, but then he noticed something else--his shirt, which had been a long-sleeve--barely came over his elbow. Speaking of which, his arm wasnt covered in fur anymore!

Thinking that the liquid had scalded his fur off, Mojo shot up to his feet and ran for a mirror...only to trip and fall. It wasnt because of vertigo, but rather because his pants were _way_ too short and was hindering his leg movements. He looked over his legs, and noticed that they were _much_ longer than they used to be, and were also absent of his black fur. He reached up and touched his face, his fingertips immediately noticing differences; one was that he apparently still had fur on his head, and even some on his face. But his face felt different, as did the rest of him. Ignoring any other kind of hindrance, Mojo raced to the nearest mirror and stood in front of it. He nearly fainted.

He apparently...wasnt a chimp anymore. He looked..._human_. He had grown so much that his clothes were almost torn off of his body, which, without all the fur, showed off the muscles gained from his years of studying martial arts. The only thing that seemed to still fit was his helmet, which was miraculously still intact over his head. His skin still had that green tinge to it, and his eyes were still the same, too--black irises with pink whites. He saw that instead of fur on his head, he had hair; still thick and black that grew down his neck and under the front of his helmet in a widow's peak. Sideburns ran from his hairline down his jaw and under his chin, growing up in a point under his lower lip. His face was still simian-like, but definitely human in nature.

He held up one hand and flexed it, watching in the mirror how his muscles contracted with the movement, then looked over the rest of himself before finally going back to staring at his reflection. _'What on Earth happened to me?'_ he asked himself. He then thought back to the explosion. That was it! That chemical in the beaker must've had some sort of reaction when it was heated, and when it exploded all over him, it must have made his DNA evolve. Well, that answered _that _mystery.

The next mystery was how he was going to clothe himself.

* * *

Cursing the fact that he had to make new uniforms for himself, he had found some untailored clothes in his workroom and found that they fit fine; they even looked good on him. They were a bit out of place with his helmet, but for the moment, he didnt care. He sat down in his living room, trying to wrack his brain around what all was going on now. First Bubbles vanishes, and now his DNA's evolved? Once again, if there was a God, then He was definitely screwing with him.

He sipped his coffee, happy that some aspects in this ever-changing universe remained constant, and thought more on things. Was this more of a blessing? He didnt even know if his abilities and powers had evolved with his body yet. Looking absently down at his empty coffee mug, he flexed his grip ever-so-slightly around it, and blinked when it shattered. ....Yeah. They had. He grinned to himself and stood up to head for his own training room. There, he searched his brain for anything out of the ordinary; for anything he might've acquired.

Feeling a tingling in his brain along with a small shock-like sensation in his arm, he pointed to the opposite wall and felt a _twitch_ in his brain that triggered that shock to travel down his arm and out his hand, resulting in a purple-colored blast of pure energy similar to what the Powerpuff Girls used. He stared at the hole in the wall it created, then noticed a piece of rubble on the floor and gestured toward it. Immediately, it vibrated by some unknown force, and Mojo used his will to make it levitate, then shoot to the other side of the room. He held up his hand and stared at it for a moment before clenching it tight, creating tiny purple energy bolts.

Perfect.

Maybe there really _was_ a God.

* * *

Blossom and Buttercup were in their room, attempting normal activities.

Fat chance.

Buttercup was the most unfocused as she attempted to read her textbook; she still couldnt get that day with Mojo out of her head. She couldt quite get that pained expression after he had told her that he did care to get out of her mind's eye. It kept her wondering...if Mojo did care, then _why_? When Bubbles had told them that Mojo was her friend, she really didnt take it seriously. But after seeing Mojo's expression when she told her story...after seeing the anger in his eyes when he told her to get out...she took it seriously. For some reason, Mojo and Bubbles had a relationship that neither she nor Blossom even knew about...and it was a deep relationship, too....

She didnt tell Blossom about Mojo kidnapping her for inquisition. She really didnt see the point. It wouldnt help the situation; it would hurt it, if anything, if Blossom broke in on Mojo all gung-ho and demanded answers. She almost shuddered at the fight _that_ scenario might've caused.

She was broken out of her thoughts by her own Hotline ringing. She practically threw her textbook across the room to answer it. "What is it, Mayor!?" she demanded. She didnt quite hear what all he said through the chaos in the background, but two words stood out more than any: "Mojo Jojo". She slammed the phone down without any more explanations and turned to Blossom. It was going to take a lot of gads to say this.

"....Blossom? I think I need your help with this one."

When both Powerpuffs reached the scene, it was a sight of chaos. Buildings were in ruins, and several people were lying around, very injured and most unconscious. But any sign of technology was absent, and at the moment, so was Mojo Jojo.

"...He's gone too far this time!" Blossom exclaimed, kneeling down to examine a citizen with a bad-looking head injury. "It looks like he's _purposely _hurting people this time!" She looked over at Buttercup, who was staring at the wreckage with almost dead eyes.

"...That's because he _is_ this time..." she heard Buttercup murmur softly. "...We pissed him off, Blossom...he's doing this to get back at us for hurting Bubbles..."

"What are you talking about, Buttercup?" Blossom demanded. "You dont know that for sure! What Bubbles said that time...it wasnt real! Mojo Jojo _wasnt_ her friend! He's just doing this because he's evil!"

"You've got _that_ right."

Both girls' heads shot up at the sound of a voice directly above them. They saw a crouched figure on top of the building they were standing under, staring down at them with glowing red eyes. "I am indeed evil..." Blossom was the first to speak.

"Mojo, how _could_ you!?" she shouted up at him. "How could you hurt innocent people on purpose like this!? This is low, even for _you_!"

The silhouetted figure that was Mojo merely stood up from his perch and glared down at them. "'Low, even for me'?" he relayed back to her, crossing his arms. "Says the girl who drove her sister away without a trace." His eyes seemed to narrow with delight at the sight of Blossom's clenched fist.

"You dont know _anything_!" she screamed back up at him. "You werent there! You didnt see Bubbles! She was going insane! She was going to kill us!" Mojo's eyes narrowed into small slits of glowing red as he stepped off of the top of the building and fell down to the ground, landing crouched almost like a predator, before standing up to his full height.

He could have laughed at the expressions on Blossom and Buttercup's faces when they saw him. He had retailored his uniform to match his new size, but since the bare arms and legs made him feel too overexposed, he substituted what was once his fur with flexible black long-sleeved-and-legged spandex under his indigo uniform. Other than that, nothing had changed. He had kept the white gloves and boots, and his long purple cape blew in the breeze behind him. Other than that and his new height of about five-ten, nothing was too changed.

"Wha....who...?" Blossom stuttered, raising a hand to point at him in shock. Mojo grinned evilly and crossed his muscular arms.

"You like?" he asked, flashing his still-sharp teeth in a malicious grin at her. "I can assure you, it was entirely by accident, but I do think it's an improvement..."

"You...you're not Mojo!" Blossom finished speaking. Mojo gave her a dull glare. "You're just some disillusion impostor! Mojo's a freaking _ape_ for crying out loud!" Next to her, she thought she heard Buttercup smack a hand to her face. Mojo looked about ready to do the same.

"...No, I can assure you that I am indeed Mojo Jojo," he stated in monotone, as though his big moment had just been ruined by an asinine statement. Oh wait. It _had_. Silly him.

"P-prove it!" Blossom challenged. "Prove that you're really Mojo Jojo! Tell me something that only the _real_ Mojo would know!"

"I babysat for you when you were six."

Silence.

"...Not good enough!" Blossom shouted back, her voice sounding a little strained and desperate. Mojo groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Bubbles knocked herself out and thought that she was me."

"Everyone in the city saw that, try again, faker!"

Mojo looked about ready to strangle her. "I was created by the same Chemical X blast that created you!" he finally said. "That, and I was the one responsible for your birth to begin with! I also created the Rowdyruff Boys, you knocked a baseball into my house once, I crashed your slumber party under the alias 'Mojesha', you broke me out of prison for candy...shall I go on?"

Silence.

"Still not good enough!" Blossom shouted again. Mojo let out a growl of frustration.

"Enough of this tom-foolery!" he shouted back. "Cease and desist you incessant demands of proof of my identity because I _am_ Mojo Jojo! I am very insistent in my insistence that I am who I say I am, and who I am is Mojo Jojo! I have come here to wreak havoc and it has to be interrupted because of your stupid, time-consuming questions as to my identity, which is _MOJO JOJO!!!"_

Buttercup held up her hands. "Yes, yes, we believe you, you're Mojo Jojo! Now shut up!" Mojo seemed pleased that at least Buttercup took his word for his identity. He grinned and crossed his arms again.

"Good to see that someone besides me has some brains in this city," he said, giving Buttercup a nasty grin. He slid his eyes over to Blossom, whom most of his anger was directed towards, and his grin faded into an ugly snarl. "...I had originally planned for the two of you to sit and watch as Bubbles and I had a fight...something to show you that we are _not_ the weak jokes you pegged us off as. I too have power the two of you have not yet witnessed..." He shifted his gaze over to some conscious witnesses from before the Powerpuff Girl's arrival. "...Though, if you want a description of just a few services I provide...you can ask _them_..." He grinned at the small crowd, and they ran away, crying out in fear.

"How _dare_ you!?" Blossom shouted at Mojo. "How dare you treat them like that! They have nothing to do with this! This is between you and us!" Mojo uncrosses his arms and clenched his fists, a self-projected wind making his cape flutter violently behind him. His eyes glowed red once more.

"I dare, because it _is_ about them too!" he suddenly shouted, his voice carrying all around the city. "The people of this city have treated me like a joke since the day I was created! And why!?" A purple-colored aura surrounded him almost angrily. _"Because I was a primate_!" He held one hand directly over his head and let loose a blast of purple energy, which exploded into random directions, hitting whatever they pleased. "And what was worse, the people of this city also treated _Bubbles_ like a joke! They never gave her a real chance!" He glared at them, his eyes looking like they could set them on fire.

"But..._you_ two know now...dont you?"

Blossom let out a battle cry and bolted forward toward Mojo. "_I'm sick of hearing your voice_!" she screamed, revving up a dark pink bolt of her own energy. _"You never cared about Bubbles!!! Dont you dare talk about her!!!" _Everything was suddenly cut off when Mojo was suddenly in front of her, his purple aura gone and his hand around her neck. The sudden pressure on her throat and loss of air snapped her out of her attack state, and her pink energy ball vanished.

Mojo raised Blossom right off the ground with one hand and held her to his eye level. "...It is like I told your sister," he hissed, his eyes flickering over to Buttercup, "...I care a lot more than you think. It is _you _who knows nothing." He let go of Blossom, who fell at his feet, holding her throat and gasping for breath. Mojo glared down at her for a moment before kicking her over to Buttercup, who caught her and glared over at Mojo. Mojo held her gaze.

"...Take her home," he said, lowering his defense. He turned in the direction of his home. "...This was just a fair warning...just a taste of what is to come. Do not bother me. Do not come after me. If you try to come after me, I _will_ kill you." Buttercup saw his hands clench before he suddenly took off running, his speed astounding even her.

She looked down at her unconscious sister and fought back tears. As she carried her back home, all she could think was, _'What is going on?'

* * *

_

When Mojo shut the door of his observatory, he leaned his back against it, buried his face in one hand...and laughed. He had felt elation...he had felt _joy_...he had felt that same rush he had felt when he committed his first crime...

He had felt _power_...

He puled his hand away from his face and stared at it. This power...he could destroy all of Townsville and this side of the country...in less than a day, if he wanted....but he really didnt. It was as he had said before...he no longer wished for meaningless destruction and chaos. It wasnt the destruction that had given him this rush...it was the power _knowing_ he could do it.

Almost as soon as the feeling of joy came, it left and was replaced with...nothingness. He felt empty again, and he still had nothing to fill it with. With a heavy heart, he reached over and pulled his cape off then trudged into the living room and sat down on the couch before burying his face in both hands.

_"Dear me, someone looks sooooo upset..."_

Mojo's head jerked up at the sound of the voice in his living room. "What the...!?" he muttered, looking around. Finally, his eyes came to rest on someone reclining on his chair.

"...You...!"

* * *

**Yeah, I think you know who's there...**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5

* * *

**

The pink-and-red-clad demon known simply as 'Him' reclined sideways on the chair, his thigh-high stiletto-covered legs draped over one arm while his own harm supported him up off the other. He was examining His own reflection in the shine of His claw, a devious smile on His face. He finally turned and looked at Mojo, His grin broadening. "Well helloooo, Monkey-Boy," He greeted, His green eyes flashing. "...Well, not so much Monkey-Boy anymore....seems that you've traded your simian look for a sapien one..."

"Is there _any_ reason why you are here!?" Mojo growled, feeling a migraine build up in his head. "Because if there isnt, I would appreciate you vacating my premises as soon as possible." With that, he stood up to go change clothes; his uniform didnt feel quite as natural in his newer body for some reason. "Preferably before I return."

When he did return--wearing a dark blue button-down shirt and black pants--his eye twitched to see Him still sitting on his chair, this time right side up and delicately sipping what looked like tea from a tea set he'd never seen before. Him caught his eye and waved him over. "Please, do come sit down, Mojo," He said merrily, pointing to the couch opposite the coffee table. Mojo growled once more and sat down regardless. Him gestured to an empty pink cup. "Tea?"

"No!" Mojo nearly shouted. "What business do you have here with me!?" Him's smile faltered ever-so-slightly, and He set His own pink cup down.

"I've come with information..." He drawled, making a gesture of folding his claws one on top of the other. "...Information....you desperately want...." That seemed to catch Mojo's attention, and Him noticed. "...You want to know what happened to...Bubbles, am I correct?"

Mojo felt a wave of cold rush over him as he looked at Him, who sat opposite him calmly. He clenched his fingers into the arm of the couch. "...I do," he finally replied. Him's smile broadened. "...You know what happened to her?"

"I do..." Him replied, crossing His legs. "But before I tell you, I want _you _to tell _me _something..." He paused for dramatic tension. "Tell me your relationship with her."

Mojo could've strangled His neck, if he were suicidal, but instead, he clenched his fingernails deeper into the couch until he was sure he felt the upholstery rip. "...What is it to you?" he ground out through his sharp teeth. "Why do you care?"

"Nooo..." Him replied. "...I think the question is...why do _you_ care...?" His grin was almost malicious now, and Mojo could feel himself sweat under the pressure.

"...I dont really know," he replied, his posture slumping slightly. "...I mean...I cannot explain what I feel..." He looked over to Him, who nodded and waved a claw for him to continue. "...It began...say...three years ago..." He wrung his hands together. "...I ran into her...and she was smoking...! At her age, that would be considered a crime, and I was...surprised..." He shifted a little. "....And then she began to talk to me...she told me things that no one else knew...things that I could relate to... We both felt that we were underappreciated, undervalued jokes in this city...

"And then, a year ago," he continued, "she came here to my home, in an emotional mess...I took her in and listened to what she had to say...then I fed her and let her sleep here...." Mojo unconsciously stroked his hand over the surface of the couch cushion, though the gesture didnt get by Him, who noticed and grinned more broadly. "...And when I woke up, she was gone...and two days later...I got the news that she had...vanished...." Mojo looked down at his hands. "...I felt...empty...like something inside of me was missing..." He clenched his fists. "...Like something inside of me wasnt coming back..."

Him made a thoughtful sound and tapped His chin with His claw. "...I see..." he drawled, looking thoughtful. He looked at Mojo. "...Mojo, what do you know of the basic physical structure of the Powerpuff Girls...?" Mojo looked up at him, a bit confused.

"....'Sugar, spice, and everything nice'..." he replied. "Everyone knows that." Him nodded.

"Yesss...they do...but no one but a scientist would know....that those components are _very_ different from one another... Professor Utonium set out to create the perfect little _girl_....but instead, created _three_ little girls...." Him's eyes seemed to glow softly. "...And because they are three instead of one...they are not perfect."

"What does any of this have to do with Bubbles!?" Mojo cut in, his fingers digging into the couch again. Him's eyes flashed briefly.

"_**Everything**_," he growled, his voice taking on that annoyed, angry tone. "It has to do with _you_ too, you know." Seeing Mojo's confused expression, he elaborated. "Right before that explosion, somehow, some of _your_ DNA ended up in the concoction." Him grinned. "Have you not noticed that you and the Powerpuffs share some...similarities...?" Mojo only blinked. "You and Buttercup share violent tempers and a total disregard for how much damage is done in a fight. You and Blossom share intelligence and a thirst for knowledge. But those are merely shared personalities." Him's voice softened slightly, as though He were about to tell something he shouldnt. "...But with you and Bubbles...you two share something beyond the mere veil of personality..."

"...What do you mean?" Mojo said.

"Out of the three ingredients for the 'perfect little girl', _sugar_ is the most absorbent," Him replied. "When your DNA--be it from a hair or some of your monkey-spit, I dont know--fell into the concoction, 'sugar' absorbed most of it, and that is why the two of you have a deeper connection than the other two." Him grinned. "After all, because some of your actual DNA fell into it, that _does_ sort of make you their actual father!" Him interrupted Himself with a fit of amused laughter. "Then again, it would also explain why that 'birthday gift' I shot at Bubbles gave her those extra powers....ooopsie!" More laughter.

Mojo sat there, dumbfounded. He knew that he was responsible for their birth, but didnt know that it ran _that _much deeper... From what Him told him, since Bubbles had absorbed most of his own DNA, she was more his daughter than any of the other two. That would explain why he had felt the urge to comfort her when he saw her upset...why he had fed her when she was hungry...listened to her when she had something she wanted to say....why he was so angry that she was hurt, and worried that she was missing....

"...What happened to her...?" he asked softly, his hands trembling. "...Where is Bubbles?" Him looked at Mojo, the amusement gone from His visage and His posture serious.

"...She's gone," He finally said. "...When Buttercup poured that Antidote X on her...Bubbles' physical self was in a state of disarray, and the Antidote completely dissolved the 'sugar'....which was held together only by Chemical X." He looked at Mojo to see if he had really gotten the point. It looked as though he almost did, but just needed another push. "...Bubbles was dissolved, Mojo," Him finally said. "There was nothing more of her but a few blue flames and burnt sugar when it was over."

Mojo's hands trembled violently as he slowly raised them to his face to cover it. "No..." he choked out. "You....you're lying....!" He jumped to his feet, his purple aura flaring dangerously. "_YOU'RE LYING TO ME!!!" _He raised a hand to blast the demon back to Hell, but Him clamped His claw tightly around Mojo's arm, almost enough to slice it off, and Mojo disengaged his aura and almost fell to his knees in pain.

"I can assure you, **_MOJO_**, that I am not lying..." Him said almost calmly, easing up on the grip. "You know that I dont tell lies...I prefer the ugly truth." He let go of Mojo's arm. "...Sugar was also the most unstable of all the components," He continued. "Bubbles probably wouldnt have lived to see thirty at the rate she was going. Her unbalanced nature would have dismantled her physical structure by then..."

Mojo fell back onto the couch, feeling something in his gut rise all the way up to his throat...and then out in a loud scream. He knew what that emptiness he felt was--Bubbles...gone. His only friend...gone. His _true_ child...gone. Mojo clenched his fingers into his face and did what he hadnt done since he could last remember.

He cried.

* * *

Mojo must have fallen into unconsciousness, because he had opened his eyes to find that he was lying down on the couch with his cape as a blanket. His head hurt like hell and his eyes were sore and damp. He sat up and just sat there on his couch, staring into nothing.

...She was gone.

He couldnt seem to get that fact wrapped around his brain. Without Bubbles...who would he really talk to? Who would treat him like he was a person instead of a villain? Who would he fight in an even match, and make him feel whole again?

Feeling all cried out, Mojo slowly stood up and walked into the kitchen, only to find that Him was already there, wearing a gaudy pink apron and making something on his stove. "Good morning, Mojo," He said softly, as though not wanting to agitate him. "I made breakfast. Want some?" Mojo, ignoring the fact that Him was playing housewife in his own home, shook his head and sat down at his table, one hand holding his head up tiredly. "Coffee, then?" Mojo made an indifferent noise, and just seconds later, his coffee mug was set before him, holding his favorite roast. He only held the mug in his hand, and didnt drink it. After a few more minutes, Him sat down across from Mojo.

"You really are upset over this, arent you?" Mojo only nodded. "...Dont think that you can do anything to bring her back," Him continued. "What happened in that lab thirteen years ago was a freak accident. She cant be recreated like that." Mojo only made an affirmative sound and finally lifted the mug to drink his coffee. "But you already knew that, didnt you?" Mojo nodded again. Him, getting annoyed with the lack of verbal answers, leaned back in His chair and folded His claws together. "...So, what are you going to do about her sisters?"

Mojo stared into his coffee mug at his dim reflection with a blank face, but fiery red eyes. "....Mojo?" Him pressed. Mojo lifted his eyes to Him's.

"...I'm going to kill them," he finally said, baring his sharp teeth and crushing his coffee mug in his hand.

* * *

**Zomigawd, Mojo's mad! *hides* And what of Bubbles? Oh noez!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6

* * *

**

Buttercup had spent the last two weeks in her room, not even going to school, as she thought about things. She may not have Blossom's intelligence, but what she did have was intuition. And damn, was it burning like a four-alarm bitch right about now. When she saw Mojo that day...she thought that she would have a heart attack. He was powerful...there wasnt a doubt in her mind about that. She wondered where he had gotten that power...let alone changed from a chimp to a human, but right now, that was the least of her worries.

That destruction that she had seen...it was so different from his normal modus operendi that at first she didnt believe that it was him in the first place. But now she knew better. She also knew that right at this moment...Mojo was _pissed _about something...no. He was _beyond_ pissed by this point. He was downright bloodthirsty, and that he was craving spice and everything nice on the menu.

So for the past two weeks, since bringing Blossom home, she had stayed in her room, barely eating and hardly sleeping, thinking about what was going to come next. There was a deep, personal vibration in her gut; her intuition. It was telling her that something bad was going to happen, and soon.

She just didnt know when.

Blossom had tried to assure her that it would be alright; that they would beat Mojo like they always did. But her words of assurance did her normally tough sister no good. Buttercup still stayed in her room with the drapes shut and the door almost always locked.

As for Blossom, she was scared. She tried to be brave, but she was scared shitless. She thought that Mojo had gotten a cheap shot when he knocked her out, but when she came to and talked to Buttercup, she was surprised to find her tough-as-steel sister huddled in her room like a mental patient, scared to death. She tried to talk to Buttercup, but all Buttercup had said was that Mojo was going to come after them for what they did to Bubbles.

Blossom had tried to tell her that Bubbles was alright; that she had gotten away and she was hiding out somewhere, but Buttercup would hear nothing of it; she still remained as adiment as ever that Mojo was going to finally do what he had originally set out to do--kill them.

And Blossom had gone about her day--school, homework, fighting whatever minuscule crime there was (since Mojo's terror ride over Townsville, even the other villains had been too afraid to commit crimes), and hours mulling over the fate of her sister. Since Bubbles had vanished, she had felt a constant overwhelming feeling of guilt. She had gone over their last confrontation countless times in her mind, and pointed out about a thousand different things that had gone wrong because of her....a thousand different ways they could've handled the situation.

A thousand different ways to have not hurt Bubbles.

She too had thought about the confrontation with Mojo--she had seen the look in his eyes when he had said that he cared. The sheer _hatred_ in his voice as he spoke to her. The power in his grip on her throat that restrained itself from breaking it...

...For the first time in her life...Blossom felt helpless.

* * *

Two weeks, three days passed, and Blossom had managed to get Buttercup to come downstairs for some real dinner. She wasnt much of a cook, (that had been, sadly, Bubbles' forte) but she tried her best and Buttercup was actually eating it, which she was glad for. Her sister had lost a lot of weight from the sheer stress of the situation. They were on their own for the night; Professor had gotten called away for a meeting at the university he was currently working at.

They ate in stone silence for about twenty minutes, and then the house phone rang. Buttercup excused herself to answer it, and Blossom kept reading her small book for AP Chinese class. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Buttercup scream, and bolted for her. She found Buttercup on her knees on the floor, her hands over her ears as though she didnt want to hear anymore, and Blossom ran to the phone and snatched it up. "Who is this!?" she practically screamed into the phone.

"I think we both know who it is, Blossom..." Mojo.

"M...Mojo?" Blossom stuttered. She collected herself and put on her big-girl voice. "Mojo, what do you want?" She heard a moment of silence on the other line.

"It is like I told Buttercup," he finally said. "I have the Professor with me. Rest assured that he is unharmed and safe. I have no reason to harm him." Another pause. "It is you two I want."

Blossom swallowed hard and looked down at her traumatized sister on the floor. "...What do you want us for?" She winced when she heard maniacal laughter.

"What do I want you for!?" He laughed again. "Isnt it obvious!? I want your _lives_, that's what I want! I'm going to give you until this time tomorrow to think about it. The Professor will be unharmed until then. And this is your choice: You can choose between your two lives, and the lives of your _father_." That last word seemed forced and spat out. "Until this time tomorrow. Goodbye." *click*

Blossom stood there holding the phone for a few more moments before throwing it to the other side of the room with a shriek and kneeling down next to her sister and hugging her. They stayed that way for hours, until the sun came up.

* * *

Back at Mojo's observatory, Mojo was pacing his lab like a wild animal waiting for a kill. A small distance from him was the Professor in a cage, but he was unharmed, fully conscious, and watching Mojo with frightened, but defiant eyes. He had dared not speak when Mojo had made the call to his daughters in front of him, but now he was getting agitated.

"...Mojo," he finally said. Mojo stopped his pacing and turned to face him, his dark eyes boring into the Professor's. Mojo nodded. He truly had no desire to hurt the Professor this time around, and held no grudge against him. "...Tell me something...." Professor gripped the bars of his cage. "...Did something happen to Bubbles? Blossom and Buttercup told me that they think that her fire ability was negated, but she could still fly, and she got away...but..." He swallowed. "...I think...I think that something else happened....do you know?" Mojo's back turned to him again. "Please tell me, Mojo! Tell me what happened to my baby!"

Professor winced and backed away from the front of the cage when Mojo let out a loud roar of anger and tossed something in the direction of the cage, but obviously not meaning to hit it at all. He turned back around, his eyes glowing red.

"...She's dead," was all he said before turning and stalking out of the lab, his cape billowing behind him.

The Professor slumped against the back bars of the cage and fell to the ground. He had had an inkling, but now that he had heard it...he didnt want to believe it.

* * *

Out in his living room, Mojo took is usual place in front of the window, watching the moon rise over Townsville. He had given the girls a rather difficult choice; save the Professor's life and sacrifice thier own in retruibution for Bubbles'....or sacrifice the Professor's life so they could live to fight him another day. Quite frankly, he knew that they would try to save both, and possibly kill him to stop the threat. But he couldnt let that happen. He wouldnt let that happen. He glanced at the clock.

"...Twenty-three hours left to go..." he muttered to himself. He looked back out over Townsville. "Make haste, make haste...I am not a patient man, girls..."

* * *

**Whatever will Blossom and Buttercup do? **


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7

* * *

**

Seven-thirty. Just fifteen more minutes until the Powerpuff Girls would arrive. Mojo was waiting outside his observatory, on the roof, with the Professor standing with his hands bound behind him to his left. He stood with his arms crossed, looking in the direction that the Girls would be coming, shifting his gaze to the Professor every once and awhile. Professor stood still as he had been told, waiting for his girls to arrive. After Mojo had told him that his little Bubbles was gone forever...he had been in a state of depression. But that didnt stop him from asking something else...

_"Mojo...why...why do you feel so strongly for Bubbles?"_

_Mojo, who had reentered the lab and began pacing again, froze and stared at the Professor. "...It is none of your business."_

_"It IS my business, Mojo!" the Professor shot back. "Bubbles is MY daughter, and I love her! I deserve to know why you want to kill my other daughters for HER sake!" _

_Mojo's hands clenched tightly as he turned to face the Professor. He stalked up to the bars and stared the Professor in the eye. "I will tell you why," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "Unbeknownst to you, right before the explosion in the lab that created the Girls and me...some of my DNA was absorbed into the concoction. And as you know, and you do, because you are a scientist and this is common knowledge to you, sugar is the most absorbent of the three ingredients. _

_"...Bubbles is more my daughter than YOURS...because she absorbed the majority of my DNA." That said, he turned and walked out of the lab again before he did something out of anger._

So the Professor spent a few hours wracking his memory, and figured that when the former Jojo had gotten right up close to the concoction, one of his hairs might've fallen in right before it exploded. And he had to admit that Mojo was right; if that were the case--which it was--then the Girls, especially Bubbles, were his biological daughters.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the telltale streaks of pink and green lights rushing toward them. Mojo uncrossed his arms and went on the defensive as the girls came to a stop in front of them and landed on top of the observatory. Buttercup looked the most nervous, and was averting eye contact with Mojo. Blossom was looking at the Professor, searching for any sign of harm. Finding none, she turned to Mojo.

"Alright, Mojo," she said, her voice wavering. "We're here." Mojo nodded, his eyes glowing red in the darkness.

"And have you made your choice?" he asked, his clenched hands creating little sparks of purple electricity. Buttercup gulped and Blossom nodded.

"We have."

"...And?"

"And we fight! _Buttercup, now!_"

Buttercup, naturally the fastest of the Girls and using it to her advantage, bolted toward the Professor and snatched him up, flying away. Blossom in turn bum rushed Mojo, who merely stepped out of the way and off his observatory. Blossom, who knew that Mojo didnt fly, wondered just what the hell he was doing, went after him, intent on pummeling him right in the air to the ground. But when she got close enough to him, Mojo snatched her by the front of her shirt and tossed her right into the moat below--then revved up an electrical charge and threw it in right after her.

The entire moat lit up with a violent purple light for a few moments as Mojo shifted to the side and landed just outside the moat on the ground. He stood up and waited patiently on the edge for a few moments before walking over to the edge, dipping his hand in the water, and bringing up a shocked and nearly-unconscious Blossom, who coughed up some water and hung limply from Mojo's grasp.

By this point, Buttercup had dropped the Professor off at a safe place, ignoring his cries for her to stop, and raced back in time to see Mojo holding up her sister, who looked about ready to drop dead. "_Let my sister go, you damn dirty ape!_" she screeched, rushing toward him and knocking him away from Blossom. She knelt down toward her sister and helped her up. "Damn it...breathe Blossom!" Blossom coughed up some more water before breathing easy again.

"I am most certainly not an ape...at least not anymore..."

Buttercup turned and saw Mojo standing up and brushing his uniform off. His eyes were ablaze by this point, and that purple aura was beginning to pulse around him. He cracked his neck back into place from where Buttercup had punched it out of place and began to walk back toward them. "I gave you who choices, not three," he continued. "They were clear, concise, and to the point." He came to a stop about ten feet away from them. "And they were fair choices."

"They were _not_ fair!" Buttercup hollered back at him. "You were making us choose between our lives and the life of our father! _How_ do you call that _fair_!?" Mojo's clenched fists sparked again, more violently.

"I am only using _your_ version of 'fair'," Mojo hissed back. "Did you think it was fair that Bubbles got the minuscule and mundane 'jobs' in this city? Was fair when she was obviously hurting and wanted to talk to someone that you ignored her? Was it fair that the two of you _DESTROYED HER!?_" His purple aura was almost flame-like, engulfing his body and making his cape come loose from the sheer force and snap away on its own.

"What do you mean, 'destroyed her'?" Blossom shouted over the force of the gale caused by the aura. "We didnt destroy her! She just got away--_AAAGH!_" She was cut off when Mojo threw a purple energy beam at her, narrowly missing her by an inch.

"_She's GONE!!!"_ Mojo shouted. _"She's GONE and YOU killed her!_" This time, he pointed at Buttercup, who dropped her sister in shock.

"I...I didnt...!" Buttercup stuttered in reply. "I didnt...!" She suddenly thought back to when she had thrown the Antidote X on Bubbles; how Bubbles had screamed in pain...and then that burst of blue light... She remembered those footprints that led away from the explosion before they disappeared...they were burnt, but Buttercup then remembered that they were smoking...they had a sweet scent...

"...No..." Buttercup buried her face in her hands. _"NO!"_

Mojo's gale-force aura died down slightly, though his eyes remained flaring. "...Yes," he replied calmly. "Bubbles' physical being was completely dissolved by the Antidote X. She's gone." Buttercup sobbed into her hands, repeating 'What have I done, what have I done' over and over again as Blossom stood up on her own and glared at Mojo.

"_WHY DO YOU CARE!?"_ she finally shouted. "_YOU CANT JUST KILL US WITHOUT TELLING US WHY!!!"_

Mojo was silent for a moment, then he reached into his uniform pocket and brought out a scrap of blue, something that Blossom recognized as a piece of Bubbles' old outfit, the one she wore when she was five years old. Ignoring the fact how he even _had _that, she waited for his explanation.

"...Because I am her father."

Silence.

"...What, because you helped create us, and decided to favor her!?" Blossom demanded. Mojo's eyes flashed briefly.

"No," he replied, looking down at the scrap of dress in his hand. "...When you three were created, some of my DNA was mixed into the concoction...it gave all three of you certain characteristics of mine....Buttercup's temper...your intelligence....." He broke off for a moment. "...But Bubbles absorbed most of my DNA...she is mostly my daughter, because we share a connection...we share so much more than mere genes..." His hand clenched the cloth and Blossom saw his eyes go soft for just a moment. It didnt last long, and Mojo put the small scrap of cloth back into his pocket.

"...You took something from me...you took something from my heart," he continued softly. "...After she...she was gone...I felt an emptiness in my heart that I had never felt before." His gaze flickered back to them, his eyes hardening again. "...I'm not stupid or desperate enough to think that killing you will fill that void. No...killing you will ease my pain of constantly knowing that _she _died, and _you two _lived." He raised his hand, and made it crackle and glow with his purple energy. "...Any last words, O-daughters of mine?"

Buttercup was too busy sobbing about what she had done, and Blossom was just frozen from his explanation. Upon hearing no answer, he charged it up some more, intending this attack to be final and deadly.

Before he could throw it, however, he heard something summon behind him, and felt the familiar chill that filled the air that could only mean that Him had made an appearance. "Mojo," He said, his voice full of amusement, "dont you think you're being...a little _too_ hasty in killing them...?"

"Leave me alone," Mojo hissed, his eyes never leaving the two banes of his existence before him. "I'm finishing this off once and for all, and there's _nothing you can do to stop me--!_" He was cut off from his tirade when he felt a strong hand wrap around his wrist and clench, stopping him from throwing the attack. Mojo turned to lash out at the one who dared to stop his revenge, when every molecule in his body froze and his attack was completely disengaged just by the sight of what he saw.

"...It...cant be...!"

* * *

**Ooooh, who CAN it be!?**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8

* * *

**

Bubbles.

Mojo stared at the blonde holding his wrist in disbelief, awe, shock, and several other emotions he couldnt quite place or describe. She looked back at him, her iridescent blue eyes almost glowing as she looked into his own. Slowly, she let go of his wrist, but then Mojo grabbed her own wrist in return. "....It cant be...!" he murmured, his eyes never once leaving her. Who he presumed to be Bubbles gave him a smile--the same smile he always remembered her having. His fingers flexed over her arm. "You...you're...!"

"I _was_," Bubbles spoke, her voice not a bit different than what he last remembered her having. "I was gone, Mojo...I _did_ die."

"Then..._how_...!?"

"B...Bubbles...!?"

It was Buttercup who had spoken. She had stood up and was now staring at her sister, her expression mirroring Mojo's. Tears poured from her eyes. "Oh God...! Bubbles...! You're alive...!" She rushed forward and fell to her knees about three feet from Bubbles. "Forgive me!" she cried, tears streaming down her face. "Please Bubbles...! Forgive me for killing you!" Before she could get any answer regarding her forgiveness or lack thereof, Mojo let out a growl and kicked out at her.

"_How dare you speak to her_!" he snarled, raising his hand for another attack. Again, Bubbles grabbed his wrist. He looked over to see Bubbles staring up at him with almost pleading eyes.

"...Dont," was all she said. It was all it took for Mojo to calm down once more and disengaged his attack. Bubbles looked back at her sisters, then at Him, who nodded at her. He raised a claw to the two sisters on the ground, and His eyes glowed a bright green before the girls fell unconscious, albeit harmlessly.

"Perhapsss..." Him said, catching Mojo's attention, "...we should adjourn to a more...private location...? One of my own...?" Before Mojo could reply, he was engulfed in a reddish-pink mist. The mist dissipated, and the trio vanished.

* * *

When the mist faded, Mojo saw that he was in what looked like a pink and red Martha Stewart nightmare of frills and doilies. Him merely grinned and gestured to the sofa. "Please, _do_ make yourself comfortable, Mojo," He said cheerfully. "Refreshments? Tea?" Without waiting for a response, He flounced out of the room into seemingly nothing, leaving Mojo and Bubbles to sit in the bubblegum puke-fest of a living room.

Mojo stared at Bubbles. She hadnt changed much since he last saw her. She was wearing a light blue long-sleeved v-neck shirt that cut off just below her breasts with a white tank top underneath to cover her torso up, paired with a blue miniskirt and white boots that looked like they came out of his own closet, only they had tufts of long white fur lining the top of them. The lining of the collar of the blue shirt had the same white fur, as did the blue skirt. Mojo sarcastically wondered to himself whose idea _that _was. The most evident difference was Bubbles' hair; it was cropped short and put up into messy pigtails, giving her a younger appearance, despite her matured face and body, and it had darker, dirty-blonde streaks in it.

He didnt know how long he had stared at her, but he was cut out of his thoughts when Bubbles knelt in front of him and took his hands in her own. "...Mojo, are you alright?" she asked softly. Mojo could feel something deep in his chest well up with...what was that...?

_Completeness._

Mojo squeezed her hands and smiled back at her around the same time Him came flouncing back in like a merry housewife, carrying a large tray with a large red teacup with pink swirl patterns on it, accompanied by three little teacups. Next to the tea set was cream, sugar, and an array of cookies. He set them down, then sat down on a large red chair and smiled at them a little deviously. "Did you have fun catching up?" He asked, folding His claws together, along with His legs. Mojo felt his left eye twitch.

"...What is going on here?" he demanded. "I demand to know what the meaning of this is! You told me that Bubbles was dead, but here she is alive, which is to say, _obviously _not dead, destroyed, or deceased--!"

"Mojo...Mojo, calm down!" Bubbles quickly intervened before Mojo could _really _get on a roll with his redundant speech. These days, Mojo only went into repetitive speech patterns when he was overly nervous or upset. Now was one of those 'upset' moods, and once he stared, it was hard to get him to stop, short of hitting him. She squeezed his hands again. "Mojo...let Him explain, alright?" She turned and nodded to Him, staying by Mojo's side.

Him nodded back, grinning at Mojo. "To make a long story short," He said, waving His claw carelessly, "I brought her back."

"But you said..." Mojo cut in. Him laughed, cutting him off.

"Mojo, I said that there was nothing _you_ could do!" He proclaimed. "I said that there was no way _you_ could bring her back! I however..." Him's eyes glowed brightly. "...Was able to do so."

"....How?" Mojo asked.

"I resurrected her the same way I resurrected her brothers, the Rowdyruffs," Him replied. "I found her soul, and recreated her body. Her powers, however....were a _little_ difficult to re-manifest..." He broke off in thought. "She was created with a natural substance--sugar--but what held her together--Chemical X--was not a natural substance." He shrugged. "The only reason I was able to recreate the Rowdyruffs was because what held _them _together was not an unnatural substance." He sighed. "In fact, it would've taken much longer for me to resurrect Bubbles, had it not been for _my _power inside of her..."

Mojo was about to ask Him what He was talking about when he remembered that it was Him's attack on her that gave her fire powers anyway. Her absorbent nature must have manipulated her DNA to give her some of Him's own powers. Mojo nodded. "...I see," he replied. "How long?"

"Eh?"

"How long ago was she resurrected?" Mojo said, getting annoyed at having to repeat himself (irony was hilarious). Him nervously tapped the points of His claws together.

"Umm.....three months ago...? ....Heh heh...."

Cue the 'kabooom'.

"_WHAAAAAAT!?_" Mojo's cry of outrage seemed to ring throughout the entire living room area and out into the abyss. Mojo leapt up, his purple aura going batshit crazy around his form. "_BUBBLES HAS BEEN RESURRECTED FOR THREE WHOLE GODDAMN MONTHS AND YOU DIDNT SEE FIT TO LET ME KNOW!!?!?!"_ His hands sparked with violent bolts of electricity. "_IF I COULD KILL YOU, I WOULD RIGHT NOW!!!"_

"Mojo, please!" Bubbles cried, pressing her hands to his chest to keep him from advancing onto Him. "He had a reason! When I came back...I wasnt...." She bit her lip and her eyes went downcast. Mojo calmed himself down and held her shoulders, looking at her, concerned.

"...You were not...what?" he asked softly. Him watched the exchange between former enemies with interested eyes. In all His days of knowing Mojo Jojo, He knew that of all the villains, Mojo was the most indomitable; the most proud. Of course, the former ape would give Him a term of respect, what with Him being the superior in power and all...but other than that, Mojo never let anyone tell him what to do, or how to act. He would have much sooner have someone shave his fur off. And now he was adjusting his own attitude, simply because it was upsetting Bubbles? Him grinned. It was kinda cute... But he digressed. Bubbles seemed unable to tell Mojo why it had taken so long to tell Mojo of why it took so long to contact him. Him sighed. Once again, He had to come to the rescue...

"Bubbles...wasnt herself..." He offered, trying to find the right words. Mojo glanced over to Him for elaboration. Him sighed again. "...When I resurrected her....all that was resurrected was her body...it...it didnt have a soul." He saw Mojo glance down at the blonde, who was looking a little traumatized and clenching her delicate hands into his uniform. "...She could talk and think...she could move...she was _there_...but it wasnt her." He folded His claws again. "...It took...a very long time to find her soul," He continued. "Until then...she was tormented inside her own mind..." He raised His eyes to look at Mojo. "I dont think even I can describe what it's like to live without a soul. It's like a living Hell." His eyes flickered around the room to make his point.

"Bubbles' body and mind went without a soul for nearly six months before I finally found it and summoned it into her body."

Mojo felt a shudder run through him as he looked down at Bubbles, who was trembling and looked like she was about to cry. Immediately, Mojo pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. He had already told himself over a year ago that he didnt want to see her cry again. This seemed to calm Bubbles down, because her trembling stopped and her grip on his uniform lightened up. Him waited for a few more moments before continuing.

"...When I finally did find her soul...I went through a Hell of my own bartering with a Soul Collector from Upstairs," He said, pointing His claw in the direction of 'up'. "If it wasnt for Bubbles' insistence herself, the whole thing wouldnt have worked." He sighed and slumped in His chair. "I had to trade _ten_ pure souls I won fair and square for hers! So you had better be happy, Monkey-Boy!"

Mojo was about to growl back a reply when he heard Bubbles giggling. Bubbles turned around to look at Him. "Hiiiim..." she drew out in a sing-song voice, sounding creepily as devious as the demon Himself. "...As I remember, you were practically _throwing_ those souls at the Soul Collector for me..." Mojo watched, almost amazed, as Him began to blush, even through all that rouge he was wearing. Bubbles pulled back from Mojo and stepped over to Him, who looked like He wanted to disappear into that oversized fluffy pink collar of His, and stood in front of Him, her hands on her hips. "Not to mention, it wasnt even _ten_ souls you threw at him...it was more like...what was it...?" Her grin widened.

"...Fifty?"

Him made a soft, choked sound, His complexion actually deepening in color. "...Fifty-five," He mumbled, shuffling His stiletto-clad feet childishly. Bubbles giggled again, sounding so much like her old self, and leaned down to peck a sweet kiss onto His cheek.

"And I still thank you for that."

Mojo stood across from them, blinking. What the Hell...?

* * *

**There, I ended it on a cuter note rather than an angsy one. Rejoice.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9

* * *

**

Mojo had a hard time processing all that had just happened in the last half hour alone, oversized and evolved brain be damned. It had gone from about to destroy those damn girls to watching Bubbles--his self-proclaimed and designated daughter--_flirting_ with _Him_. That little leap between Point A and Point Z was enough to give a normal person an aneurysm. Hell, Mojo thought his brain was bleeding out at this moment.

".....'jo? ........Mojo!"

He was vaguely aware that someone was trying to talk to him. But screw it.

He passed out for about the fifth time that month.

* * *

Mojo's brain was throbbing when he finally came to. Regardless of consciousness, he laid there with his eyes closed. ...Had it all been a dream? Was Bubbles really dead and gone for good? Was he only unconscious because the Powerpuffs had knocked him out, but decided to leave him alive out of mercy? God damn those girls, when he got his hands on them he'd--!

"I think he's awake now...." Him's voice. Mojo could sense amusement in the demon's voice, and that kind of ticked him off. He felt a vein begin to throb in his temple.

"Is he alright?"

As soon as that throb had come, it was gone as he heard the angelic voice of Bubbles. Mojo shot up out of bed like he had been shot at, looking around a little wildly until his eyes came to rest on Bubbles, who was blinking in surprise at his sudden consciousness. Him was standing next to her, one claw resting on His hip and an amused smirk on His face.

"...I think so, Sweet," Him replied, giving Mojo a smart-ass grin. Mojo resisted the immature temptation to give Him the finger and instead sat back down on what he was almost horrified to find was a pink and red bed with black sheets. Just looking at it made him want to jump up off of it again. Bubbles walked up to Mojo and sat next to him.

"Mojo, are you alright?" she asked, concerned. Mojo swallowed his disgust for Him's decor and nodded to Bubbles.

"Yes," he replied. "Just....fine..." Bubbles tenderly hugged one of his arms and stared up at him with those impossibly innocent eyes.

"...If you're upset with something...you can tell me..." she said. Mojo sighed and reached over with his free hand to pat her head.

"It's nothing to concern yourself with, Bubbles," he replied, though his eyes shifted over to Him, who, of course, knew exactly what had worked Mojo up so badly. Him gave him a coy smile, then vanished from the room in a swirl of pink mist. Mojo glared a hole into the spot where Him disappeared, then turned his attention back to Bubbles.

"....Bubbles?" he asked, his fingers stroking the strands of her pigtails. Bubbles, content with hugging his arm, made a soft sound of affirmation. "...You dont seem too surprised about my current...erm...form," he finished lamely. Bubbles looked up and smiled.

"...I'm not," she said. "....I saw what happened in the lab that day..." She hugged his arm tighter. "...I was so scared...I had only asked Him to let me see you...but when I did...I saw the explosion....but Him told me that you would be fine...more than fine, even..." She shifted a little. "...I wasnt quite strong enough to leave Him's dimension yet...if I was, I'dve been there when you woke up."

Mojo nodded, mostly to himself. "...Why did you stop me from killing them?" he said after a few minutes. Bubbles clenched her fingers into his arm.

"...They're my sisters, Mojo," she said softly. "I dont condone what they did...but I forgive them." She looked back up at him. "...Mojo...please dont try to kill them again...please..."

For a moment, Mojo saw red. He stood up and clenched his fists. "And why not!?" he ground out through his teeth. "They deserve it! They...they _killed _you, Bubbles! They killed you! They killed one that I view as my own offspring, my own daughter! My flesh! My blood! They--!"

"When I was a kid, did I deserve to die, too?"

Mojo froze mid-rant. Bubbles crossed her arms, looking like she was about to throw in her own rant. "Did I deserve to die, too, when I was a kid, and you didnt know that I carried most of your DNA? When I was a kid, when we were enemies, just because I was born, did I deserve to die along with my sisters, simply because you were jealous that we were better loved? Were we born from your hand, simply to die from your hand?"

Mojo blinked at her, halfway torn between reassuring her in a panic that she was in fact _not_ deserving to die and smirking with joy that her little rant was indeed worthy of his own blood. So instead, he went with the third option. He hugged her. Bubbles seemed surprised by this gesture, and stood blinking as Mojo squeezed gently.

"...You do not, nor did not, deserve to die," he told her quietly. "I was wrong." He heard Bubbles make a soft sound of unrecognizable emotion, and continued. "Even before I got to know you three years ago...I was...growing bored with the old song-and-dance of me destroying Townsville and you and your sisters coming to save the day and throw my ass into prison, only for me to break out and do the same thing next week..." He sighed. "...And after I did get to know you...it no longer interested me. I wanted something more...I wanted to fight you. I wanted to put my heart and soul into one great fight, regardless of who came out victorious, because if I died, then I would have died happy and fulfilled.

"...And...after you came to me that second time just a year ago...I...still wanted something more than a fight. I wanted...companionship. I wanted...I wanted..."

"...A daughter?" Bubbles offered. "...Family?" Mojo squeezed her a little tighter.

"...Exactly."

A few minutes of silence passed before Bubbles pulled away, then reached up on her tiptoes to give Mojo a light kiss on the cheek. "I would be more than happy to be your daughter," she said, smiling. "...But I want you to know...that even though they dont hold as much DNA as me...Blossom and Buttercup are your daughters, too."

Mojo looked a little peeved and ever-so-slightly sickened at the very thought, but he heaved a sigh and hung his head in quiet defeat.

"...Yeah...but I dont have to like or acknowledge it!" he suddenly added. Bubbles rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, fine!" she groaned. "Just...dont kill them, alright? If you can absolutely help it, I mean."

"Deal." Mojo smiled and ruffled her hair, making her giggle like a little girl again. "Now then..." he continued, catching her attention.

"Hm?" Bubbles inquired, blinking cutely. Mojo crossed his arms and put on his most authoritative face.

"...What exactly is going on with you and Him?"

Bubbles' face went as pink as the bedspread on her bed.

* * *

Buttercup jolted up from her sleep with a short scream, only to find that she was in her own bed, with no battle wounds, no bruises, no nothing. She looked around, expecting Mojo to come out of the shadows any moment, but saw nothing. Cold fear still gripping her heart, she bolted for Blossom's room only to find her sister still asleep, also looking like she hadnt been in any major life-threatening battle.

She leaned against the door frame, her heart beating a mile a minute, then her attention jolted to another subject. The Professor! Was he still out in Townsville!? She turned and was about to run out the house when she ran smack into someone, knocking them both down to the floor.

"Buttercup, honey! Calm down, it's just me!"

"Pro...Professor...?" Buttercup blinked at the Professor, who was sitting up on the floor from where he was knocked down, then began to cry and hug him tightly. "Pro...D...Dad...!" she cried, burying her face in his coat. "Daddy!" The Professor held her tightly to him, rubbing her back in a soothing manner.

"Shh...it's alright, Buttercup," he murmured. "It's alright...I'm here, and we're all safe..."

"Mo...Mojo...!" Buttercup stuttered. "He...he was going to...!" She let out a fresh sob. "Oh God! I killed her, Daddy!"

"No, no you didnt..." the Professor reassured. "It was an accident, you didnt know..."

"No!" Buttercup shouted back, her tears now soaking the Professor's coat. "I did kill her! She..." She broke off, her eyes going wide. "...She was there...she protected me....me and Blossom...!" Professor pulled back a little to look Buttercup in the eye.

"What do you mean, Buttercup?" he asked. Buttercup swallowed hard and clenched her eyes shut.

"...Bubbles," she finally said. "...I saw _Bubbles_...! She came back...! She...she stopped Mojo from killing us! I..." Buttercup put her hands over her face. "...I begged her to forgive me...!" She sobbed harder. "She saved our lives, Daddy! She came back to save us!" Professor pulled her to him again.

"...Buttercup..." he said softly, "...you're tired....you've been through something traumatic..."

"No!" Buttercup pulled back to look Professor in the eye. "I saw her, Daddy! I saw her! Blossom saw her too! She was _there_! She was there with...!" She suddenly looked like she was about to be sick. The Professor noticed this and gently squeezed her shoulders.

"Who, Buttercup?" he asked urgently. "Who else was there?" Buttercup swallowed hard, her eyes full of fear.

"...Him..." she finally said.

* * *

**Ooooh....scary....**


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10

* * *

**

Luckily enough for Bubbles--but to Mojo's annoyance--Him appeared just at the point where Bubbles was about to tell Mojo what the deal was between her and Him. Mojo had a feeling that Him had been watching the whole time and interrupted on purpose, but he chose to let it go. For now.

"I _do_ hate to interrupt," Him said overdramatically, "but we have a few guests that are _very_ insistent on seeing the both of you." He bowed and swung His arm out dramatically. "Ladies first..."

"Then lead the way," Mojo shot back, smirking. Him's brow twitched, as did the corners of His lips.

"...Fair enough," He replied walking out the door with a toss of His head. Bubbles giggled and followed after Him, and Mojo followed Bubbles into the labyrinth that was Him's dimension. They passed several floating doors that had gut-wrenching sounds coming from them and staircases that seemed to not even _go_ anywhere, but Him just merrily skipped through all of it. Yes. You heard that right. Skipped. Bubbles merely followed, not at all bothered by the insane mind-fuck of a universal hole, so he tried not to mind it either. It was kind of hard, considering nearly every step he took he thought he would fall right into the endless abyss.

"...Why cant you just teleport us there?" Mojo finally asked after what seemed like an hour of walking. Him turned around, blinking innocently.

"...I like walking," He replied. Mojo gave him a look that implied a facepalm. Bubbles giggled again and stepped up to Him, then hugged His arm cutely.

"Come on, Him!" she said sweetly. "This way _is_ a little boring..." She fluttered her eyelashes and Him's complexion deepened again as He raised a claw to scratch the back of His head.

"...Yesss...." He drew out, an odd smile on His face, "...I suppose it _is_...." Before Mojo could contemplate having another aneurysm, Him teleported them to the God-awful living room, where Mojo became too distracted to have that mental meltdown by who was already there.

"Holy _shit_, Boomer was actually _right_!" Brick shouted, pointing at Mojo. "Mojo _isnt_ a monkey anymore!"

"Brick?" Mojo said, surprised. "...Boomer? Butch? What are you three doing here?" He blinked when Bubbles let out a gush of joy and flounced over to hug them. "....Um...." He heard a sigh and felt Him put a supportive claw on his shoulder.

"They've watched her for the longest time," Him said. "A year ago, after that...how did they put it...'kick-ass' display she showed toward her sisters, they decided to make her an honorary member of the Rowdyruffs..." He wiped a tear from His eye. "It's so nice to see the children getting along, isnt it, Mojo?"

Mojo only muttered a reply along the lines of 'what the fuck'. "...What did Brick mean by 'Boomer was right'?" he asked. Him grinned.

"Boomer was the only one present at your little spat between you and the Girls," He replied. "He saw how you had changed and told his brothers." Him snorted. "Naturally, they didnt believe him....not that I can blame them." Sigh. "...Boomer isnt the sharpest knife in the cutlery set...pity..." Mojo gave Him a weird look. "...Ah...anyway....when she finally got her soul back, they started hanging out....helped her get back into shape with little battles and sparring matches...you know, the sort of things kids do these days..."

Mojo tuned out the rest of Him's drivel and looked on at Bubbles getting along with the Rowdyruffs--his other children. At least, the children he acknowledged he had. He hadnt seen them for quite some time--about two years ago, actually--and found himself actually happy to see them. Bubbles currently had Brick in a headlock and Butch was laughing his ass off as Boomer jumped around like an ADD crackbaby on caffeine pills and cheered Bubbles on. Brick was flailing his arms, only concerned that Bubbles not singe his hair with her 'blue shit'.

She finally let him go, and Mojo was amused to see that Brick was combing his fingers through his hair like it was too precious to loose even a strand, then straighten his hat. It was almost painful to see the similarities between him and Blossom, but he had to admit that it was humorous to see Brick so narcissistic about his hair. It was Boomer who ran over to Mojo and pointed needlessly at him.

"See? I told you! Told you Mojo wasnt no monkey no more!"

Making a mental note to give Boomer grammar lessons, Mojo stood in place blinking as the other Rowdyruffs came over to observe him, pointing at his obvious differences. Finally, all three of them asked, "How the hell did you do it?" Mojo opened his mouth to speak when Him shoved him onto the couch.

"Yes, yes, tell them all about it!" Him said a little impatiently. "I'll be back with something for us to eat! Bubbles, Sweet, care to help me?" Mojo didnt miss the lovey-dovey tone, nor the extra sparkle in Him's eyes when Bubbles nodded with a smile and walked with Him into--he assumed--the kitchen. With them gone for the moment and the Rowdyruffs asking him all sorts of questions, Mojo sighed.

"...Well, it began with an explosion in my lab..."

* * *

Buttercup was all worked up and pacing about the living room. Blossom had since woken up and had joined her sister and the Professor and they were trying to make sense over what was happening.

"...All we really know for sure," Blossom had concluded, "is that we accidentally..." she choked on the word, "...destroyed Bubbles...and then Mojo shows up all evolved and with more dangerous powers, fire and brimstone about how we 'killed his daughter', and he was going to kill us when Bubbles stopped him. And then, we see Him with her." She nibbled on her fingernails, a nervous habit. "...It's only safe to presume that Him brought Bubbles back...like He had brought the Rowdyruff Boys back..."

"...Does that mean that Bubbles is evil now?" Buttercup asked, still pacing. Her pacing didnt go unnoticed by the Professor, who had seen Mojo do that exact thing when he was a prisoner in Mojo's lab. He had long since accepted that Mojo was--to a degree--their biological father, but was now really seeing it in his daughters.

"If Bubbles was evil," he cut in, "then why would she bother to stop Mojo from killing you two?" Blossom shrugged. Buttercup stopped pacing.

"...So she can kill us herself," she muttered darkly. Blossom shot up from her seat.

"Buttercup, dont say that!" she cried. "I saw Bubbles too, you know! She didnt look evil! She didnt...she didnt _feel_ evil! I could see it in her eyes, Buttercup..." She walked over to hug her sister. "...She was going to forgive you. I just knew it..."

"But it doesnt make any sense!" Buttercup cried, putting a hand to her head. "Why would Him be there? Why would He have resurrected her if He wasnt going to make her evil? Something doesnt add up!" The Professor nodded assent.

"I agree," he remarked. "There's a reason why Him brought Bubbles back...not just to the living world, but also back _here_ to stop Mojo from killing you two. Why?"

None of them knew.

* * *

**But YOU all know...right?**


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11

* * *

**

Mojo was so busy answering the Rowdyruff's questions about his new form and powers that he barely realized that ten whole minutes had gone by, and Him and Bubbles still hadnt come back. Right after answering Boomer's last question ("No, I cant fly, but I can run on top of water."), he stood up. "Which way is the kitchen?" he asked. "Let's go see if they need any help with anything." He blinked when Boomer lowered his head, his back shaking as though he were repressing laughter. Butch shoved him to the floor and gave Mojo an innocent and smooth-as-silk point toward the direction of a narrow black wall.

"The kitchen's that way," he said. "Just walk right through the black wall, cant miss it. Eh..." He looked over at Brick, who was trying to keep a straight face. And failing. "...We'll just wait here."

Mojo frowned at their odd behavior, and their laziness. "Fine," he huffed, walking to the black wall. He put a hand to it, and found that it slid right through like the wall wasnt even there. Bracing himself for the insanity that was Him's domain, Mojo slid through the whole thing. As soon as he was out of sight, all three of the Rowdyruffs burst into laughter.

"Hahaha...! How do you think he'll react?!" Brick asked, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Fifty bucks on him fainting!" Boomer put up.

"One _hundred_ on him trying to kill Him!" Butch offered. They all high-fived each other.

"It's on!"

* * *

Mojo shuddered as he came to the other side of the wall. _God_, it was creepy here! He looked around and saw a small reddish-pink path that led to a wide door, and just beyond that he could see a large black refrigerator. Heaving a sigh of relief that he didnt have to walk another labyrinth to get to his destination, Mojo walked into the kitchen. He was about to ask the two what was taking so long, when he saw them. And froze. And felt a nervous breakdown manifest itself in his brain.

Bubbles and Him were standing next to the oven, which was open to show off some freshly-baked cookies, and Bubbles was pressed up against Him, who had His back to the counter and had her pulled tightly to Him. And they were _kissing_. Mojo felt his eye twitch violently and before he even knew what he was doing, he was charging toward them, his eyes blazing red and his hands alight with purple bolts of electricity.

Him, who was facing in the direction of Mojo, immediately saw the attack and pushed Bubbles out of the way just before Mojo collided right to him and began a bitch-brawl on the kitchen floor. A great mess of energy shots and foul language ensued as Bubbles stood to the side, her face bright red at the realization that they had been caught _kissing_ by someone she viewed as her _father_! It was bad enough when her _brothers_ had walked in on them; they _still_ hadnt let that piece of blackmail go!

She didnt cut in until Him had His claw around Mojo's neck and Mojo was powering up another electrical shock that could supply power to all of New York City. She dived in, twisted Him's claw loose, and gave Mojo a hefty kick in the chest to separate them, then stood between them, arms held out to barricade any advancement.

"That's _enough_!" she shouted, looking over both of them. "From the _both_ of you!"

"_HE STARTED IT!!!_" they both shouted, pointing at the other. _"I _started it!? No _YOU_ started it!"

"**You attacked the _HELL_ out of me**!" Him shouted over to Mojo, His eyes a bright glowing green.

"You were having improper relations with my _daughter_!" Mojo shrieked back, his own eyes flaring red.

"It wasnt like I was _forcing_ myself on her!"

"That is beside the point!"

"_**WHAT POINT!?**_"

"_SHUT UP!!!_" Bubbles' entire body burst into angry blue flames.

Both men snapped their mouths shut at the command of the girl between them. Bubbles let the flames burn like an inferno for a moment before extinguishing them and heaving a heavy sigh and lowering her arms. "...Um..." She flushed and looked over at Mojo, who had snapped out of his shock and had his arms crossed. "...Explanation?"

"If you please," Mojo hissed, tapping one finger over his arm. Bubbles looked over at Him, who flushed a deeper red and averted His gaze elsewhere.

"...Well..." Bubbles began, wringing her hands together. "Him and me.....we're...um....."

"They're a friggin' _couple_!"

Bubbles, Mojo, and Him turned to see the Rowdyruffs standing near the doorway of the kitchen, looking thoroughly amused. It was Butch who had spoken, and he was looking quite smug with himself. He grinned at Mojo. "They've been together since Bubbsy-Baby got her soul back, and have barely been able to keep their hands--and _claws_--offa each other!"

"**YOU BE QUIET NOW, YOU LITTLE BRAT!!!**" Him growled at Butch, who shut his mouth and turned to his brothers.

"Pay up, losers!" He held out his hand as Brick and Boomer reached into their pockets, grumbling, and pulled out various dollar bills to slap into Butch's hand. Mojo felt a twitch over his left eye.

"...You...little...._RATS_!!!" he hollered, his purple aura flaring. "You _knew_ I was going to see that! You _purposely_ let me come in here to see them!" His anger grew when the Rowdyruffs guffawed and smacked each other on the back, amused with their joke. He was about to go over there and give them about 100,000 volts each when he saw Bubbles walk past him, her hands on her hips. She stopped in front of them and glared. Immediately, the Boys stopped laughing. Bubbles clenched her fists, then burst into blue flames.

"..._RUN._"

"_HOLY SHIT!!!_"

The Boys fled the area, with an angry trail of blue flames following them. Mojo and Him stood in the kitchen, wincing at the loud crashes and shrieks of pain from the other room. They finally looked at each other.

"...Should we stop her?" Mojo asked. Him grimaced.

"...I wouldnt," he replied.

Silence...save for the sounds of violence.

"...So...you and Bubbles...?"

"Yes." Awkward silence.

"....That's...very Freudian, you are aware...?"

"Shut up...just...shut up, Mojo..."

* * *

It took two hours for everyone to get calmed down and settled enough to eat the cookies Bubbles had baked. The Rowdyruffs had to be healed extensively by Him, and were scootched on the couch next to Mojo, who wanted to do the least damage to them at the moment; Him and Bubbles sat next to each other on the love seat. Mojo was quiet as he watched Him profess His adoration for Bubbles' baking skills and Bubbles blush and humbly declare herself an amateur. The Boys were quietly eating their cookies and doing their own thing--Butch counted up his money, Brick played a video game that wasnt supposed to come out for another four months but he stole anyway, and Boomer gorged himself on most of the cookies.

After about another half-hour of their own vices, Bubbles finally turned to Mojo, her eyes serious. "...Mojo?" she said softly. Mojo looked at her and nodded. "...I was wondering something..." She looked down at her hands, which were wringing nervously. Mojo blinked.

"...What is it?" he asked, curiosity piqued. The Boys paused their activities to watch.

"...Are you...are you still interested...in that fight you wanted to have?"

Mojo opened his mouth to answer...only to pause. He actually had to _think_ about it. _Did_ he still want that fight? He really didnt know, to be honest. Since he discovered that Bubbles was alive, he'd felt so complete that the thought hadnt crossed his mind. ...No. No, he truly did not desire that fight anymore. All he had really wanted from the beginning was companionship. He had wanted someone who understood him. And he had that. There was nothing more. He was about to say so himself when,

"Because I am."

Blink. "...You...you still want...?" Bubbles nodded. "...Why?"

"...I still have...an unfulfilled desire," she said, her hands clenching together. "...A desire to prove myself. A desire to fight at my maximum power." She raised her eyes to his. "...With you."

Mojo swallowed hard, feeling his pulse quicken. From nervousness? No. From anxiousness? No. From excitement? Dead on.

"...As do I..."

He smiled at her and Bubbles smiled back. Then they were both snapped out of their mood when Him stood up, clasping His claws together. "Marvelous!" he cried, spinning around on one pointed toe from glee. "A _spectacular_ show it shall be, and I will be most _honored_ to host the event!"

The rest of the room took Him's proclamation in different ways; Mojo looked at Him as though He were a complete nutcase. Bubbles was nervously giggling, but wishing He wasnt so flamboyant all the time. The Boys were wondering what they did to deserve such a homo for a second father (well, Butch and Brick thought that; Boomer just wondered if there'd be food at the event).

"...That would be lovely, Him," Bubbles said, smiling and hugging Him around the chest. Mojo's eye twitched again (he had a feeling that this would be a regular occurrence so he'd better get used to it) but he ignored it for the time being.

"Where will we have this event?" he asked Him. Him tapped the tip of His claw to His chin, then smiled.

"Why...right _here_, of course!" he said happily, gesturing wildly about the room, which dissolved of its living room nature and became what looked like Townsville after the Apocalypse. "The two of you will have an endless abyss of battleground to use at your whim!" Bubbles let out a happy squeal and kissed His cheek. Mojo was--thankfully--distracted by looking around at the area. Yes...it was perfect. He turned to Him, ignoring the fact that he was _cuddling_ Bubbles.

"Him." Said demon turned His attention to Mojo and blinked.

"Hm?" Mojo paced for a moment to think, then looked at the demon, his eyes flashing red for a moment.

"....I have one last favor to ask of you..."

* * *

***squeals* Oooh...teh big fight is at hand!**


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12

* * *

**

It was four days after Blossom and Buttercup had their last confrontation with Mojo, and things were very quiet in Townsville. No other villains were committing any crimes for some reason, so the Girls were left to ponder Bubbles' resurrection, Him's reason behind it, Mojo's ultimate goal, and the whereabouts of the three aforementioned.

Blossom was trying her damned hardest to focus on her homework, but her math equations failed to make sense, her Chinese characters were a jumbled mess she couldnt read, and her English looked Greek to her. Finally, after day three, she put it all aside and didnt even look at it.

Buttercup had developed a separation anxiety with the Professor, who she never referred him as since four days ago; she always called him 'Daddy', or just 'Dad'. He never left her sight, and when he did, he had to constantly assure her that he was fine.

The Professor himself was still in a state of depression; he had been since Bubbles was gone, but it went even deeper when Mojo told him that Bubbles had died. But when his girls told him that she was alive, some light came back into his world. It was still dim, as he also discovered that not only was she resurrected by Him and he still had no idea if she was under His control, but also because it was clear that Mojo was her biological father, and would want to keep her for himself.

Overall, the Utonium household was in a state of disarray and depression.

On that fourth day, it looked like it was going to end like any other day--no calls from the Hotline, no word from Mojo, Him or Bubbles, and nothing to do but wait for either of the former two. Eight-o-clock hit, and everyone was about to call it a night when a loud explosion all the way in Townsville was heard at the house.

Blossom had been preparing herself for this, and helping Buttercup prepare too. Now was the time for some answers. She raced from her bedroom to the living room, where the Professor and Buttercup were looking at the city through the window. Buttercup was insisting that she didnt want to leave the Professor, who was urging her on.

"You have to protect the city," he said, giving her a hug. "I'll be here when you come back. I promise." Buttercup held back tears as Blossom grabbed her hand and raced out the door toward the city.

"What do you think's going on?" Blossom called over to Buttercup. Buttercup swallowed hard.

"I dont know!" she replied. "I'm actually half-hoping it's Bubbles..."

"Buttercup!"

"I know, I know, dont think like that..."

They landed where the explosion took place, and looked around. There was no sign of anyone, but there was a huge smoking crater in the middle of the city, which looked like a meteor had hit it. "...What could've done this...?" Buttercup asked herself.

"Give ya just one guess, Babycakes!"

Both girls whipped around to see three silhouettes standing on top of the nearest building. The one who spoke had lightly glowing green eyes and was grinning almost manically at them. The other two laughed, then all three jumped down and landed in front of the Girls.

"Butch!" Said Rowdyruff gave her a lewd grin and winked at her.

"Long time no see, Babes," he said. "Still gonna turn me down for that date?" Buttercup's eye twitched and her hands clenched into fists.

"Until the day you die!" she shouted. "You did this!?" She gestured around her to the destruction. Butch blinked and numbly looked around.

"...Yeah, so? The street was ugly. Needed renovation." Behind him, Boomer and Brick burst into laughter. "Guess I got carried away, eh?"

Buttercup, snarled at him, preparing to go break her foot off in his ass. Blossom stepped up next to Buttercup. "What is your problem!?" she shouted over. "We dont hear from you in about two years, and you suddenly decide to make an appearance!? What are you playing at!?" Brick stepped up next to Butch.

"Smart girl," he said, grinning at Blossom. "Yeah, we're up to something. Care to guess what it is, Smarty-Girl?" Blossom gave him a nasty glare.

"I cant guess what goes on in the minds of idiots," she replied smoothly. Boomer snorted.

"Ha, she called you a idiot!" he laughed, pointing at Brick. Brick and Butch smacked a hand to their faces.

"...I'm surrounded by ingrates..." Brick muttered. Butch punched him in the shoulder, which Brick ignored. "Either way, since you dont wanna play, I guess we'll just let you know what's going on, since we're under strict orders not to hurt you. Damn it."

"What do you mean?" Blossom demanded. "What's going on?" The Rowdyruff Boys walked up to them, their hands where the Girls could see them to show that they meant no harm. ...To them, anyway.

"We were merely sent here to give you girls an invitation," Brick said, holding out what looked like a large red crystal towards Blossom. Butch held out an identical one to Buttercup. Boomer picked up an unopened candy bar he found lying on the ground and began eating it. Blossom and Buttercup hesitantly took the crystals, noticing that it was very warm, and felt like it was gently pulsing.

"...What does it do?" Buttercup asked Brick.

"Well, it sends you to--BOOMER, STOP EATING SHIT YOU FIND ON THE GROUND, IT'S DISGUSTING!!!--it sends you to Hell."

Blossom yelped and dropped her crystal, only to have it glow lightly and levitate to her eye level. Brick laughed. "Haha! Not like _that_, Sweetheart," he said, grinning and crossing his arms. "Him merely asked us to give you those as an invitation to a battle. It takes _place_ in Hell. Lots of people are invited to see it." He looked over to Buttercup and Butch. "...We can double-date..."

"Oh, _HELL_ no!" Buttercup yelled, tossing her crystal to the ground, ignoring the fact that it was doing the same thing Blossom's did. "We are _not_ going to Hell to watch some death match for Him's amusement! And definitely not as a date!"

"It's not like you have a choice, Babe," Butch retorted, crossing his own arms. "You can come this way, which is quick and painless....or you can go by force. Either way, you're going." He grinned. "You wouldnt want to miss Bubbsy-Baby's big fight, would you?"

Both girls froze at the mention of their sister. "...B...Bubbles?" Buttercup stuttered. Butch nodded.

"Yep," he said, examining his fingernails. "One of the contenders in the fight is our sister, Bubbles...and we can tell you straight up that it's going to be epic!"

"She's gonna fight Mojo-Daddy!" Boomer cut in, unaware that he had chocolate on his face. "It's gonna be coooool!" He flounced around a little in a state of bliss at the thought of the upcoming battle. "So hurry up and grab your crystals so we dont miss it!!!"

The other four present just stared at him.

"...He's been hanging around Him too long," Brick remarked, shaking his head. "Anyway, as the retard said, Bubbles is going to fight Mojo. They've been wanting this fight for about three years now, and...what did Bubbles say...? Oh yeah." He put on a girlish voice that wasnt patronizing, but still unnecessary. ""I will be damned if my sisters arent there to see me kick some ass and take some names'." Getting weird looks from his brothers, he cleared his throat. "So yeah. Grab the crystals and hold onto them so they can take you to the battle arena and we dont have to make you go by painful force."

"And what painful force might that be?" Blossom asked.

"Hellfire," Brick told her. "Burns like a motherfucker..." He held up one hand, which had a large red ring on his ring finger, and snapped his fingers, making the ring glow and produce a black flame around his hand. "...And is like ten thousand years of burning in just one little five-second trip. Your choice, Baby."

Blossom and Buttercup looked at each other, then sighed and took hold of the crystals. They glowed a bright red, then flashed brightly, and the girls felt a pull before they vanished.

Brick smirked and disengaged the fire. Boomer blinked.

"...Hellfire doesnt hurt unless you _want_ it to hurt someone," he remarked. Brick laughed.

"They didnt know that, now did they?" he replied. He twirled his gift from his second father on his finger. "Besides, empty threats are so much more fun than nice coercion, innit?" He looked to the west. "Come on, we gotta hand out more invites before we head back." With that, the Boys flew off.

* * *

**It's a little short, ja, but the big battle is next!**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13

* * *

**

Blossom and Buttercup blinked when their little inter-dimensional trip came to an end. They were surrounded by nothing but blackness, and looked like they were standing on nothing. Standing close to each other for fear the other would disappear, they walked around tentatively for a few moments until they saw a red light in the distance. They walked toward it, and when they got closer, saw that it was a doorway. Noises and voices were coming from it, so they figured that that was the place they had to be. Holding each other's hand, they walked through the door, and were momentarily blinded by the red light.

When it cleared, they blinked and looked around, jaws dropping and eyes wide.

What they saw seemed to be Townsville...but in complete and total ruins. It sort of looked like the Apocalyptic era from the future they visited when they broke the time barrier, blood-red sky and everything. And what was more, there were people there.

The Mayor and Miss Bellum.

Kids from their high school.

The Professor...

"Professor!" Both girls ran over to their father, worried. The Professor turned and hugged them. "How did you...!?"

"The Rowdyruff Boys," he replied shakily. "They came to the house and gave me a strange crystal that brought me here..."

"The same happened with us!" Blossom exclaimed. She saw that she was still holding it, and held it up. Buttercup looked around, and noticed something else.

"...We're not the only ones invited for this..." she remarked, pointing to a gutted building.

What she was referring to were people sitting on the floors of the building like bleachers at a stadium.

The Gangreen Gang.

Sedusa.

Fuzzy Lumpkins.

Hell, even the Amoeba Boys.

But on the top of the building were the Rowdyruff Boys, who noticed them and gave them little waves, and Butch blew a kiss to Buttercup, who grimaced in disgust. Ace, who was just one floor below the Rowdyruffs and looked up to see Butch hitting on Buttercup, gave Butch a dirty look, but also gave Buttercup a wave.

"...Why do I have to attract the assholes?" Buttercup griped, turning away from the villains.

Everyone conversed their confusion over the situation they were in until what sounded an explosion came from the designated villain seats. Everyone turned and saw a swirl of pink and red mist materialize out of nowhere on top of the building, and form into Him, who grinned at everyone, then flung His arms outward in a greeting.

"_GOOD EVENING, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!_" He said, His voice carrying unnaturally so everyone could hear. _"WELCOME TO THE HELL ARENA!!!_" The villains all gave whoops and cheers, not carrying that they were in Hell to begin with. The others just began to get very nervous. Him paused for dramatic purpose. _"I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME YOU TO TONIGHT'S BATTLE BETWEEN THE JOKERS OF TOWNSVILLE!!! FIRST UP--!" _He gestured to one end of the ruins, where a figure stood silhouetted by the unnatural lighting, what looked like a cape billowing around them.

_"HAILING FROM PROFESSOR UTONIUM'S LAB AND THE BANE OF EVERY MAD GENIUS'S EXISTENCES, I GIVE YOU THE MALEVOLENT MOJO JOJO!!!"_

Undoubtedly created by Him for extra drama and theatrics, the unnatural red light shifted so the silhouetted form of Mojo came out of the shadow to reveal him in all his newly-created glory. He stood straight and tall with his arms crossed, and his trademark uniform donned and fitted to perfection. Most of the villains and Townsville people who hadnt gotten a look at his new body gaped in awe at the now imposing figure, who glared back at them with glowing red eyes.

_"IMPRESSIVE, NO?"_ Him remarked. _"IT SHOULD BE, CONSIDERING THE POWER HE WIELDS! HOW ABOUT A DEMONSTRATION, MOJO?"_

Mojo, who rolled his eyes at the idea of Him's hosting etiquette, nonetheless clenched his fists, making purple-tinted bolts of electricity come out of them, then charged up high and let it loose into the ground, where it broke apart and sparked and volted like an electric seismic disaster. Everyone--villains included--gasped in shock at the power the former primate had never before displayed, and Mojo went back to his previous position of standing arms crossed and waiting for battle.

Him twirled around joyfully in the air. _"WAS THAT NOT AMAZING?"_ He rhetorically asked of everyone. Only Boomer let out a loud "YEAH!!!" as everyone remained in shocked silence. _"WITH THAT INTRODUCTION COMPLETE, ALLOW ME TO ANNOUNCE OUR NEXT COMPETITOR!" _He gestured to the other end, about five-hundred yards away from Mojo.

_"FROM OUT OF TOWNSVILLE, I GIVE YOU THE PURE FLOWER OF THE POWERPUFF GIRLS----THE BEAUTIFUL AND DEADLY BUBBLES!!!"_

The light shifted again to reveal the eighteen-year-old blonde, who was dressed in a familiar-looking blue dress with a black stripe just below her breasts, tailored to be about mid-thigh, and was wearing thigh-high white stockings and sturdy black boots that came to mid-shin. Her short hair was up in messy pigtails and her blue eyes were aglow with excitement.

Him did a grand jete in the air, and finished with a pirouette. _"BUBBLES MY DEAR, WOULD YOU CARE TO GIVE YOUR VIEWERS A TASTE OF WHAT IS TO COME?"_ Bubbles grinned and made her fists flare with blue fire, then let out a loud shout and fired a stream of the flames into the nearest building, which caught on fire and burned to ash almost immediately. The Rowdyruffs let out screams and hoots of amusement and encouragement as everyone else--naturally--remained shocked. The Mayor had since passed out.

_"BEAUTIFUL, SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL!" _Him shouted, dancing with glee in the air. _"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS AND CRIMINAL MINDS ALIKE--I GIVE YOU THE FIGHT OF ALL FIGHTS! THE FIGHT BETWEEN TWO PEOPLE IN YOUR CITY WHO HAVE BEEN VIEWED AS A JOKE; AS THE WEAK LINKS OF THEIR TRADES!"_ He laughed manically, reddish lightning cracking in sync with his elated mood. _"WELL, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THE JOKERS IN THE DECK ARE THE WILD CARDS!!! LET THEM SHOW YOU JUST HOW WILD THEY CAN, IN FACT, BE!!!" _He landed back down on the roof of the building and summoned up a large throne-like chair to sit down in, then crossed His legs elegantly.

_"LET THE FIGHT OF THE FOOLS **COMMENCE**!!!"

* * *

_

That seemed to be the only incentive the two needed as they each took off toward the other. Bubbles flew right toward Mojo, who had taken a running leap off of the building he was standing on and used his electricity to launch him off in a manner similar to flying. They met right in the middle of the designated battlefield and the fight began.

Mojo seemed to be the most keen on using his own physical strength to start off with, rather than his powers, which seemed to work out just fine for him. He sparred with Bubbles in a style similar to Tai Shing Pek Kwar, or, as Buttercup could recognize, monkey kung fu. It seemed to be the perfect style for him, because his new body didnt seem to hinder his previous simian advantage with they style. He used his hands a lot, and after one close-call swipe at Bubbles' chest, thin tears in her dress revealed that the tips of his gloves were spit to make use of his claw-like fingernails. His flexibility was impressive, and he managed to dodge or counter most of Bubbles' attacks. What hits Bubbles managed to land were met with brute force and little effectiveness.

Bubbles was also utilizing physical strength for now; her forte seemed to be speed and placement; aiming for Mojo's weak points, such as his collarbone, head, solar plexus, and sides. Though Mojo was agile and able to dodge most of these attempts, her speed led her from one strike to the next, using random placement to attempt to throw him off. She was staying on the ground for the time being, holding off on flying until Mojo decided to use long-range attacks, but that fact didnt seem to hinder her a bit, as her footwork was in fact the most exceptional of her sisters', even when they were children. She had always been prided on having the best kick, and while she used her speedy fist strikes on Mojo, at the same time she tried to throw him off balance with her kicks. Mojo's own agility made this very difficult, however.

* * *

Back at the site of the spectators, the villains were the most in awe at the skill Mojo and Bubbles were displaying. The Rowdyruffs were hollering over encouragement to Mojo and Bubbles, calling them out as "Dad" and "Sis", respectively. Boomer was eating a box of popcorn he had summoned (well, it _was_ his other father's dimension, after all). Ace's shades had slipped off of his face. The rest of the Gang were gaping in awe, not even blinking. Sedusa was amazed and impressed at Bubbles' skill, and she thought that Mojo's new form was kind of cute... Fuzzy was hollering his approval at the fight, as though was was watching "rasslin'" on TV. The Amoeba Boys were thinking that if that was what they had to face because of crime, maybe they were better off not daring to commit crimes.

Blossom and Buttercup were amazed at Bubbles' skill, and they both felt ashamed and cheated that they had let Bubbles slip through their hands like they had let happen. Blossom felt like crying when she remembered telling Bubbles she wasnt strong enough for the tougher crimes and villains. Buttercup felt heavily disappointed and sad that she would not get to kick some ass with her uber-strong sister now. Even the Professor wished that he had given Bubbles more encouragement to express her strength. The other citizens' sentiments were more or less the same.

Him was watching the battle from His throne, a wide, excited grin on His face. He was mostly watching Bubbles, feeling a rush of delight at the sight of such a strong and lovely flower fighting with all her might...just watching her lean muscles contract under her alabaster skin and hearing her battle cries was practically orgasmic... He unconsciously licked the tip of His claw suggestively at the thought of other sights and sounds He'd like to experience with that vicious little bundle of fire....

* * *

Mojo managed to land a harsh swipe at Bubbles' face, making red claw marks and forcing her to lose concentration for a split second. He took that time to punch her in the stomach, then give her a jab to the face with his elbow to send her sprawling on the ground. He didnt waste any time with restraint or regret for any actions; he had already gone over this with Bubbles the day before their fight...

* * *

**Ooooh...*joygasm* Next comes flashbacks and more fighting! *waves my pom poms in the air***


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14

* * *

**

_Mojo and Bubbles decided to spend the day before the great battle back at Mojo's observatory_. _Him looked almost distraught that Bubbles was leaving His domain for even one day, but He put on His big-boy face and let her go on...after kissing her for an undisclosed amount of time, to which Mojo had to drag Bubbles away from Him just to get things moving, resisting the urge to waste energy by kicking the demon's ass. But he knew that he had no say-so in Bubbles' taste in men...shemales...whateverthefuck Him even was. _

_Bubbles was looking nostalgically at everything, heaving a sigh. "...It seems like just yesterday I was here," she said. "...I can even remember what we ate...I can remember what book I read...." She smiled and sat down on the couch. "...I can remember what we talked about. How much you made me feel better." She wrapped her arms around herself and leaned back to recline on the couch. _

_Mojo watched her reminisce, having a bit of a nostalgic moment himself. He also remembered that night. How he felt. How she felt. He sat down on his chair and watched her for a bit longer until she finally turned to face him. _

_"...Mojo?"_

_"Hm?" Mojo nodded, showing his attentiveness. Bubbles nibbled her lower lip for a moment._

_"...You know...how we fight tomorrow?" Mojo blinked and nodded again._

_"Yes," he replied. "What of it?" Bubbles' hands clenched around her arms. _

_"...I want you to know," she continued, "...that I'm going to be giving you my all. I'm not going to hold anything back." _

_Mojo nodded once more. "I know," he said, smiling. "It is your dream to give everything your all. I cannot do anything about that except take what you give me." Bubbles sighed._

_"...Mojo...can you.....can you promise me..." She broke off for a moment. "...Can you promise me that you will do the same for me?"_

_Blink. "...Of course," he replied slowly. Bubbles sat up and looked him seriously in the eye._

_"I mean it, Mojo," she said evenly. "I want you to give me YOUR all, too. Dont hold anything back. Even if I'm bleeding. Even if it means breaking every bone in my body until the fight is over, dont hold ANYTHING back." She lowered her eyes. "...Because...this fight is your dream too. You have powers even I never knew you could have...and they'll be a perfect match for mine. So dont...dont hold back because you're afraid you'll hurt me. Please." _

_Mojo wasnt aware that his hands were clenching the arms of his chair until the material cracked under the pressure of his grip. He loosened up on the hold and let out a breath he wasnt aware that he was holding._

_"...I promise," he replied. Bubbles smiled brightly and walked over to hug him tightly. _

_"...Thank you," she murmured.

* * *

_

Seeing Bubbles sprawled on the ground with a bloody nose didnt deter Mojo from leaping over, preparing for a diving kick right to her chest. Bubbles came to her senses long enough to roll out of the way, twist her torso, and give Mojo a hefty kick right to the head. This time Mojo went flying, and crashed into a desecrated building. That didnt faze him in the least, as he got right back up and cracked his neck, then clenched his fists, letting the electricity crackle through his fingers under the skin; a surprise attack with a little extra oomph.

He waited until Bubbles was close enough, then dodged her attacks, keeping his hand clenched and filled with electricity, then when he saw an opening, he slammed his charge fist into her gut.

Bubbles let out a scream as the electricity surged through her body, but then growled and punched Mojo in the face, knocking him away from her, then gave him a high-kick in the jaw. Mojo spat out some blood from his cut lip, and held out his hand, taking advantage of Bubbles' momentary open posture by shooting out a ray of purple energy. Bubbles was knocked to the ground again, and Mojo leaped forward to kick her in the back. This time, Bubbles stayed on the ground for a few moments, fighting through the pain to stand up.

Mojo's hands were twitching, feeling that same sick rush he used to feel when he had gotten the best of a Powerpuff Girl. In the back of his mind, he told himself that this is what he _needed_ to feel; he needed to get back into that mentality that this was his enemy, and it was either him or her. She was a Powerpuff Girl...he was a villain. She was good, he was evil. It was one or the other, and damn it, he wanted to _win_!

He let out a feral battle cry, his purple aura flaring violently, and his cape snapping off from the force and going flying somewhere. His eyes were glowing a violent red, his irises and pupils all but gone in the hellish color. He could swear his already sharp teeth were growing sharper, and his nails growing into black claws. He let out another inhuman roar of killing intent, and in a flash was right next to Bubbles, who had finally gotten up. He gave her a swift strike to the face, then kneed her in the stomach and used the heel of his hand to knock her to her back again.

Bubbles fought for focus in this battle, aware that Mojo had found his killer instinct and was in full battle mode. She turned to face him, seeing that he was in the process of giving her a slam-kick to the head. She dodged out of the way at the last second, then took off into the air. Mojo growled, then using the impact of his failed kick, pushed up from the ground and jumped right behind Bubbles, locking his arms under hers in a full nelson hold.

Bubbles writhed and jerked, trying to break the hold, but Mojo's strength proved superior in this particular position. Mojo tightened his arms, making Bubbles cry out when she felt her left arm about to be dislocated. She struggled for a bit longer, more and more in pain as Mojo's hold tightened, then she finally let out a scream as her entire body burst into violent blue flames, making Mojo let go before he was incinerated.

He fell to the ground, landing crouched on all fours like an animal, and growled when Bubbles landed a few yards away from him, her body still in flames. Some of the flames died down, leaving her face and torso uncovered as her eyes glowed iridescent blue. They had a stare-off for a few more moments, then rushed to the other again to resume fighting.

* * *

By now, there was hardly a silent voice in the entire spectator area--save for the Mayor, who was still passed out cold. The villain side was screaming their cheers for Mojo while the non-villain side was rooting for Bubbles. Only the Rowdyruffs seemed to be unbiased as to who won; they were shouting out appraisals for the both of them.

Him was the only one who was watching the fight quietly, His hard-on for violence and bloodshed making Him excited above all His expectations of these two. Hell, He hadnt been this turned on since World War II! He only wished there werent so many people around so He could enjoy this fight even more...

The Utonium family seemed to be the only ones not amused by the fight. All three of them kept wincing with every hit Bubbles took, and twice Blossom had to restrain Buttercup from jumping in to help. Blossom herself was on the verge of tears; she just wanted this stupid fight to stop! She was tired of all the fighting and the violence. The Professor had his arms around both of his girls, his own thoughts riddled with disbelief that the two warriors in the arena had both come from his own lab....

"This is terrible...!" Blossom sobbed, covering her face with her hands. "Why are they doing this...? They're going to kill each other! Why!?" She only sobbed harder.

"...You just dont get it."

The three of them turned to see Brick standing just behind them, his arms crossed. He looked back over to the fight, his red eyes shining with the excitement of the sight of flames and electricity bolts flying everywhere. "...They're doing this because they have to."

"What do you mean 'have to'?!" Blossom almost screamed, clenching her fists to her sides. "You're telling me that they _have_ to kill each other!? Bullshit! This is nothing more than a stupid blood bath that no one is going to win!" She cringed when Brick snapped and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and slammed her into the wall of the crumbling building behind her. Buttercup was held back by Boomer and Butch, who made a barricade between her and the two counterparts behind them.

"_You dont listen!"_ Brick shouted at her. "You _never_ did, and that is why this battle is taking place! Have you learned _nothing_ these past few years? Has our sister's pain and silent inner turmoil said _nothing_ to you?" He grabbed her and forced her to face the battle. "They're doing this because you and Buttercup--shit, the whole fucking _city_--treated them like they were _nothing_!" His fingers clenched painfully into her shoulders.

"...Our father is a brilliant person, full of indomitable pride and a deep desire to be noticed...to be known for something! And even if he has to commit the most heinous of crimes just to have some attention, then so be it! He wasnt _born_ evil! He was _made _evil! By people who didnt bother to show him any form of positive attention. By people who treated him like an outcast--like a monster. And that is what he became...!" He paused for a moment as though to collect himself.

"...Bubbles...she was the sweetest and most pure of heart of all of you Powerpuff Girls. And her innocence was mistaken for weakness time and time again until she couldnt take it anymore...until she finally let loose all of that pain she held inside for all those years and ended up being destroyed because of it. All she wanted was to be acknowledged as your equal, as a powerful person." Brick finally let her shoulders go.

"...But they're not even fighting for your attentions anymore," he said. He looked back at his brothers, who were looking between him and the fight. "...They're doing it for themselves. They're fighting to their fullest potential, and loving every moment of it. They take joy out of every wound they give and receive, all because they feel free....at last."

* * *

Back on the battlefield, Bubbles' inflamed fists were striking at Mojo, who dodged what he could and ignored the hiss of burnt flesh of what he couldnt, and fought back with both sharp claws and electricity behind them. To anyone who was just tuning into the fight, they wouldnt believe that they were watching a fight between mortal humans...they would have thought they were watching demons go at it, from the brutality of the fight. With nearly every strike the other dealt, a drop or two of fresh blood was spilt from the opponent. But neither cared.

Adrenaline and sheer _joy_ at the freedom they were granted numbed any pain and fueled every attack, pushing them onward and onward, making every strike bit by bit stronger and more powerful, making every movement faster and more accurate, making every reflex faster. The battlefield was a Hellish symphony of the bass of blows hitting the target, a strum of claws wrenching flesh, a cymbolic clash of energy and fire, and a choir of battle cries. It was something to make the demons dance and clink together glasses of fallen warrior's blood in a toast to the forever-reigning chaos (something Him really wouldn't mind doing at the moment).

Mojo let out an animalistic snarl and swiped at Bubbles' face, nearly taking an eye with it, but still managing to give her a nasty slice and a fresh spray of blood to the ground. Bubbles let out a pained shriek, raising one hand up to cover the wound and used the other to send a flare of blue fire in Mojo's direction. Mojo ducked down to the ground, and shot his leg out to send Bubbles flying and sprawled to the ground.

Bubbles rolled over onto all fours to get back up again, hearing Mojo approaching quickly. Twisting her torso and swinging her leg out as hard as she could, complete with a flash of almost-white fire, she hit target--and she hit it hard.

* * *

Everyone on the spectator side could hear the loud snapping of Mojo's bones as Bubbles' leg broke his left arm in several different places.

Blossom's hands flew to her mouth in horror and disgust at the sight and sound of the breaking; even the Rowdyruffs winced at the sound. Buttercup was holding onto the Professor's coat so tightly she was almost ripping it. The Professor looked about ready to vomit as he held Buttercup tightly with one arm.

Mojo let out a scream of pain and held his broken arm with his right hand, his fingers on his left hand twitching from the strain to make use of them. He heaved heavy breaths, coming down from his battle high from the sudden onslaught of pain. In the part of his mind that always worked clearly despite the clouding-over of the rest of it from battle, he knew that his left arm was useless to him now. Not only were his radius and ulna snapped--in six different places--but the bone had cracked all the way up the humerus, almost to the greater tubercle. If he tried to lift his arm, the weight of his muscles would only damage it more.

He barely had time to completely ponder of what more he could do before Bubbles kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling right onto his broken arm. He cried out in pain again and got up to fight again, leaving his left arm limp at his side. He would just have to ignore it for now and keep going. He made a running leap at Bubbles and managed to do a spinning kick to her head, but the force of his turn further aggravated the crack in his arm, and when Bubbles had gotten right back up, she had grabbed his injured arm and forced him onto the ground with it, adding insult to injury.

Mojo withheld another scream of pain and managed to knock Bubbles away with a energy-powered punch with his right hand. With her knocked all the way to the other side of their immediate fighting area for the moment, Mojo took a quick moment to assess his situation. He had a useless left arm that not only hindered his attacks, but was also one big weakness that Bubbles could snatch up at any time. He looked up and saw that Bubbles had gotten up and she was preparing to fight again. He looked down at his left arm, then gritted his teeth together tightly and took a hold of his arm just below the shoulder, clenching his fingernails tightly into it, drawing blood. Before Bubbles could get to him again, Mojo let out a loud shriek and yanked hard.

Everyone watched, sickened, as Mojo tore his left arm completely off.

* * *

Blossom vomited all over the ground, narrowly missing Brick's shoes in the process. The villains had all stopped rooting for Mojo when they saw him tear his arm off. The Amoeba Boys had passed out at the sight. Big Billy did the same. Snake puked. Sedusa looked away, covering her face with her hair.

Even Him looked shocked that Mojo had done such a thing. His shock slowly turned into blood lust as He watched Mojo toss the arm away and give Bubbles a challenging stance and a battle cry to go with it. Fucking Antichrist, why did so many people have to be here right now...!?

"Shit..." Buttercup whispered, her eyes wide with shock. "...Oh my God, holy shit, this is so fucked up...!" She felt the Professor's fingers clench into her shoulder.

"...Buttercup," he whispered back so only she could hear. She looked up to see her father, his face pale and eyes unblinking, slowly reach into his coat pocket with his free hand and pull something out of it. Bubbles looked down at it, her eyes widening even more. "...Just in case," was all he said before putting it back into his pocket to go back watching the fight. Buttercup swallowed hard, watching the fight commence with Bubbles and a one-armed Mojo. She knew what the Professor was getting at; if the time the fight got way too out of hand, she would use the secret weapon to end the fight.

Antidote X.

* * *

**WHEW! *dies* ...I'm thinking this should be changed to a M rating...**


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15

* * *

**

Bubbles quickly found that the loss of an arm was no weakness to Mojo; he fought back with just as much ferocity as before, only this time he used mostly kicks rather than punches; Bubbles also knew this was because Mojo had been left-handed and his left hook was his strong suit in hand combat. He didnt let it hinder him, even when Bubbles managed to knock him back; he merely used his right arm to hoist himself up and give her a high-kick to the face. After the fact, he just planted both feet on the ground and used his upper body strength to pull himself upright.

Bubbles sat up from being knocked down, wiping a trickle of blood off of her chin. Her eyes momentarily flickered to the abandoned left arm on the ground, and immediately had to suppress a feeling of regret. No, she thought to herself. Pity was the last thing Mojo wanted right now. He was proving that he would win, no matter how many limbs he had to lose. Instead, she quelled any outside emotions from the battle, other than determination to win, and flared up, the blue flames covering her entire body.

Mojo breathed heavily, ignoring the throb of pain just below his left shoulder. The fight was going well, so far, despite the loss of an arm, and he wasnt about to stop anytime soon. Bracing himself and clenching his right fist tightly, he let out a hissing growl as his aura enveloped him, giving him a purple-ish haze, his eyes glowing a deep, Hellish red. Electricity from his own energy sparked all around him, making the ground quake from sheer _power_. He saw Bubbles rushing toward him in a fiery inferno, and let out a roar that produced energy-laden sonic waves that shot out toward the inflamed girl.

* * *

The building that housed the villains began to crumble from the seismic shock, and everyone aboard quickly jumped out before it completely crumbled, leaving just the levitating roof, where Him was still seated, His claws gripping the arms of His throne so hard they snapped, but He didnt care. His eyes were glowing green with excitement, and He was emitting a strange pulse that everyone couldnt help but notice. They took their eyes off of the fight long enough to see that Him seemed to be...changing.

His body grew more muscular and His claws deepened in color to a deeper-almost black--red. The top of His dress seemed to absorb into His chest, leaving it bare and showing off a more muscular and toned physique. His feminine features sharpened and hardened into much more masculine ones. Even his skirt and boots seemed to thicken and become more sharp and demonic.

"...Oh, shit..." Buttercup heard Butch mutter. She turned to see her counterpart staring with what looked like fear up at Him.

"...What is it?" she demanded. "What is He doing?" The Rowdyruffs backed away a little.

"...He's changing," Brick replied, looking between his second father and the battling couple in the distance. "...He changes like this when there's a lot of violence...negativity...slaughter...He becomes...more like His true self!"

"His true self?" Blossom repeated incredulously. "You mean...who He was_ isnt_ His true self?" Boomer shook his head, his whole body trembling.

"N...no..." he said. "His true self is...." He gulped. "...Well...he _is_ the Devil Himself...!" He cut off, putting his hands over his head when Him let out a bout of demonic, evil laughter, the aura around Him flashing black.

**"_Yessss...._"** he hissed, a long black forked tongue sliding from between His to lick His lips. His voice had taken on that masculine tone that always made one shudder, regardless of who they were. **"Fight, my compatriot! Fight, my love! ****Tear your flesh! ****Shatter your bones! Spill your blood! Release that anger and hatred towards those who ignored you! Make them see your delicious power! I want to taste it, 'cause _damn_, does it taste good!"**

Blossom and Buttercup noticed that of all the villains, the Rowdyruffs seemed to be the most scared; their backs were pressed against the building, and they had a look of sheer terror on their faces. For them to be so frightened, the Girls knew that this particular form of Him must be extremely powerful indeed; stronger than even Bubbles and Mojo combined, even. They could literally _feel_ the power He was emitting, and it struck terror into their cores, too.

Him's throne even began to change behind Him; it became larger, sharper, and more evil-looking. The back grew taller and more angled, creating the shape of a large demonic skull that no one could figure out was real or not; the cushioning became a darker red and more royal-looking, befitting a King of Hell such as Him. Him sat back on His throne, overlooking the fight with glowing green eyes, His claws folded together and his grin wide and hungry.

**"Dance lovelies, dance..."** He murmured, His black tongue sliding over His lips again. **"Show some Hell to me."

* * *

**

Bubbles had flown right through Mojo's sonic scream, though the sheer speed of the passing energy gave her a few more cuts. She didnt notice or seem to care, and when she flew up to Mojo, she threw a fiery punch at him. Mojo quickly reached up and snatched her fist in his hand, clenching tightly and refusing to let go, even when his glove was burned off and his flesh beginning to do the same. Bubbles let out a shriek and threw her other fist at his face, which he also caught--surprisingly--with his teeth.

The struggle for overpowerment ensued as Bubbles repeatedly gave Mojo a headbutt, trying to get him to let go. His teeth only dug deeper into her flesh, and his claws buried themselves in her fist, attaching it in place with his hand. The force of Bubbles' headbutts cracked Mojo's helmet, and then eventually shattered it, revealing that he didnt have the oversized brain that his former simian form had, but rather a normal-sized one that was still exposed through his open skull.

Still, Mojo refused to let either of Bubbles' hands go, and when Bubbles went for another headbutt, Mojo swept her legs out from under her and pinned her to the ground, where Bubbles was unable to do much of anything but struggle to get back up or at very least flip the position. Seizing his chance, Mojo let go of her fist, then quickly punched her in the face, attempting to knock her unconscious. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the aforementioned part that still functioned logically, he wanted this battle to end. He didnt want to kill her, but with just one arm and his blood supply running out, he wanted to end this as soon as possible, but he didnt want to lose.

He hit her a few times in the head, aiming for the goal of unconsciousness, but Bubbles finally got her wits about her and pressed her freed hand to his chest and let loose a large and powerful supply of light--almost white--blue energy. This succeeded in making Mojo let go of her other hand with his teeth and send him flying into another building, making it crumble and fall around and on him. Bubbles took a moment to sit up and wipe the blood from her face. Her eyes were a bit unfocused and wild, now glowing a darker and more violent shade of blue.

Mojo pulled himself out of the rubble with his one good hand, and stood up to prepare for her attack...then froze and fell to his knees, his eye twitching from the sudden feeling of shock run through his body.

* * *

"Mojo-Daddy's down!" Boomer shouted, pointing to his first father. "Is he giving up?!"

"No," Blossom replied, squinting to get a better look. She saw that underneath the blood and dirt, his face was an extremely pale shade of green. "...He's anemic...he's lost too much blood and his body is going into shock!"

"So...he might lose?" Boomer asked, scratching his head, his brain not fully comprehending half of what Blossom had said. Blossom nodded.

"...I believe so..." she replied. She was actually happy; it meant that if he fell unconscious, the battle would end.

* * *

Mojo grimaced and pulled himself to his feet again, breathing hard. He could tell that his body was going into shock; it was why he had been focused on punching Bubbles into unconsciousness rather than using his powers. Using his powers put more than necessary strain on his body, and fueled the blood-loss process. But now he had no choice; the chances of getting Bubbles in the position he had her in again were slim to none. Instead, he braced himself up, willing his energy to come forth again.

Bubbles stood and stared at Mojo, her eyes glowing a darker and darker blue, her irises and pupils gone. The fire around her body followed suit, glowing darker and darker until it was almost black. Finally, she let out a piercing scream that sent tremors and quakes through the entire dimension, the black fire spreading over her body and blackening her flesh. Back in the spectator area, Him was laughing evilly, His voice creating just as many tremors as the girl He was watching.

**"EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT!!!"** he shouted, shooting up from His seat and jumping up into the air with glee. **"LET THE POWER OF HELL'S FIRE FLOW THROUGH YOU, MY LOVE!!! LET IT OVERCOME YOU AND WIN YOUR BATTLE!!!"** True as He had spoken, Bubbles let out an insane laugh herself, though it sounded more like the eerily evil echo that the feminine-like Him was accustomed to using. Bubbles raced toward Mojo, leaving a trail of black fire in her wake as she fired up another attack--a black fireball that she launched at Mojo.

Mojo dived out of the way before it hit, but Bubbles, whose speed had increased exponentially, appeared right next to him and punched him in the face, sending him flying. He didnt even hit the ground before she attacked again; she slammed her foot down into his chest, pinning him down to the ground as he cried out in pain, coughing up blood as he felt his rips snap and pierce his lungs. But even then, Bubbles' assault didnt end. She kicked him again, this time in his left side, and sent him skidding into a rock protruding from the ground. He slammed into it, cracking the back of his skull and making him black out.

"Fuck...!" Brick cursed, bristling. "She's gone mad! She's...she's actually going to kill him!" He turned to Him, who was looking at the fight like some men would look at porn. "_HIM_!" he screamed, getting the demon's attention. "This is _enough_!!! The aim of the battle was to fight with all their heart and soul--not to _kill _the other!" He wildly gestured to the fight. "She's not even fighting anymore! This whole fight just turned into nothing but a farce!"

**"Silence, boy!"** Him growled, making Brick flinch and draw back. **"The fight is over when one of them _says_ it's over! So until then, sit back and enjoy it!" **With that said, Him went back to watching the fight, his eyes flaring with lust. Brick let out a shuddery breath and looked back out to the fight with frightened eyes. Blossom saw this and hesitantly put her hand on Brick's shoulder in a supportive way, though she was two minutes away from fainting herself.

Buttercup trembled as she watched, thinking the same thing that Brick had said. She wanted this to stop; she didnt want Mojo to die. But what could she...? Her eyes shifted to the Professor's pocket. .....Yes.

Bubbles walked up to Mojo, the black flames licking at her body and making scorch marks in the ground she walked on. Mojo was gasping for breath, coughing up blood, and struggling just to shift his weight. He knew that with the shape his body was in, it was pointless to continue. He knew that Bubbles was the superior fighter...and he was fine with that. He had fought with everything he had, and even though it cost him an arm, almost three-fourths of his blood supply, and the unforeseen months in traction he knew he was going to suffer through...he was happy. He was very happy. He opened his mouth to declare his surrender, but was cut off when a fiery hand gripped his throat, suppressing any words he was going to say.

He reached up with his one arm to grip at her wrist, making choked sounds as Bubbles' grip tightened as she lifted him right off the ground. He struggled for breath as he stared at her eyes...or rather, tried to. All he could see was black. He couldnt see a trace of his daughter anywhere in them. He struggled in her grip a little more. "B...Bubb....les...!" he managed to choke out before he passed out due to lack of oxygen. His hand slipped from her wrist and fell limply to his side. Bubbles tossed him across the battlefield, where he skidded on the ground and laid there, not getting back up.

"_I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!_" Blossom let out a sob and dashed right into the battlefield, ignoring Brick's shouts for her to stop. She pulled her fist back and prepared to strike Bubbles when her sister turned around and caught her fist, her black flames flaring around Blossom's hand. Blossom suddenly felt a searing, unbearable pain in her hand and screamed, falling to her knees, clutching her wrist with her free hand. Bubbles finally let her hand go, but only when Blossom had passed out from what felt like ten thousand years of pain all in just ten little seconds.

**"...Foolish girl," **Him said, though not sounding at all pleased with the action Bubbles had taken. **"Hellfire will do that to you...she shouldnt have interfered..."**

Buttercup looked on at her sisters in horror. No. No no no no NO! This had to stop, and it had to stop _NOW! _Wasting no time and hardly knowing what she was doing, Buttercup shoved her hand into the Professor's coat pocket and grabbed the stoppered glass of Antidote X, then raced toward them. Him saw this, and His eyes widened.

**"_STOP!!!"_** He screamed, jolting up out of His throne. _**"IF YOU DO THAT, YOU'LL KILL HER AGAIN!!! I CANT BRING HER BACK TWICE!!!"**_ Buttercup ignored Him, fighting back the tears in her eyes at the thought of doing this to Bubbles twice; but she knew that Bubbles was too far gone to be brought back by the screams of her loved ones. Bubbles was going to kill people if she didnt do something!

By this time, Mojo had regained some consciousness and was looking up through hazy eyes to see Bubbles standing over Blossom's unconscious form, and about to deliver another attack to the girl. He pulled himself up to his knees, fully intent on stopping her from killing her sister if it was the last thing he did, then noticed that Buttercup was shooting towards them, carrying something. His eyes widened when he saw what that something was.

Antidote X.

No. NO! He couldnt let Bubbles die!

"_I'M SO SORRY, BUBBLES!!!"_ Buttercup let a tear slip from her eye as she threw the Antidote X at her sister, who was caught off guard by the sudden appearance. Her eyes slid back into their normal blue hue as she saw the Antidote X hurl right toward her, and for one split second thought that it was it.

_'...I'm going to die...'_

Just as she held up one arm in an attempt to shield herself from her fate, someone raced toward her and stood in front of her, in the path of the Antidote X, and then get hit by the glass, the Antidote drenching them.

...Mojo.

Mojo screamed as the Antidote seeped into his system, pulling and ripping at every fiber of his being as it broke down everything the Chemical X had done to him. He fell to the ground, twitching, and felt his heart slow down to a near halt. The last thing he saw before he blacked out were the blue eyes of his dear beloved daughter.

Bubbles.

* * *

***dies again* Once again, hope no one thinks I'm killing Mojo off...**


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16

* * *

**

Blackness.

Silence.

Coldness.

...Was this what it felt like to die, Mojo thought to himself. If it was...it wasnt so bad. It was lonely and quiet...but at least... no more pain. He breathed in and sighed to himself...then paused. The dead do not _sigh_, let alone _breathe_. Which was to say, they did not have the need to breathe, for their organs had failed and their spirits merely roamed to either Heaven or Hell, where no one needs to breathe, hence if he were dead...why was he breathing?

_"...I bet you fifty bucks he's ranting to himself..."_ Butch?

_"I can believe that." _Brick?

_"Bet you a HUNDRED he's dreaming of babes in bikinis!" _......Boomer. Yeah, definitely Boomer. And he was most certainly _NOT_ dreaming of women in scantly-clad swimming attire! He growled, thinking of horrible punishments to put the least intelligent of his children through.

_"Yo, get Him-Dad! I think he's coming out of sleep!"_

_"On it!"_ he heard Butch say.

Silence. Ugh, he hated that silence...

_"...Mojo-Daddy, you awake...?"_ He felt a poke in his arm. .....Okay, now he wished for that silence. Another poke. Another. _"Mojo-Daddy..." _Another poke.

"_CEASE THAT INCESSANT POKING OF MY PERSON BEFORE I TEAR YOUR FINGER OFF AND MAKE YOU EAT IT!!!_" Mojo shouted, his eyes snapping open as he glared at Boomer, who had drawn back so quickly he tripped over Brick, who was standing right behind him, and they both crashed to the floor. He calmed down immediately when he realized something very crucial.

He was awake. He wasnt dead! .....And he could apparently still talk, even though he had Antidote X poured on him. He looked down at his hands...well, hand. His left arm was still missing. His right hand looked exactly the same as it did when he was human. He felt over his body, noticing that everything still felt human. ...Something was very amiss here...

"Well, our hero finally awakes."

Mojo turned to see Him standing in the doorway, one claw on His hip as he smiled at Mojo. "Good morning, Sleepy-Head," He quipped, walking over to stand next to the bed, stepping over his quarreling second-hand sons en route. "Have a nice nap?" Mojo rubbed his head, noticing that something was covering up his exposed brain. He tapped it. .......A full skull. With a scalp. And hair. "Do you like your new scalp?" Him asked humorously. "I made it myself. Thought you might want something to cover up that brain of yours with something that didnt stick out like a sore thumb..." He sat down on a chair next to the bed, crossing His legs to wait for Mojo to become fully aware of everything.

Mojo looked around, noticing that he was still in Him's dimension, but now in a homey-looking bedroom with a red and purple color scheme. It was horrid, though not as horrid as red and pink. "What...what happened?" Mojo asked, looking at Him. Him sighed, stood up, picked up the boys and shooed them out of the room before turning back to Mojo.

"...We almost lost you," Him said solemnly. "You were only a hair's breadth from death, and not just from the shock of Antidote X on your system, noooo." He sat back down. "Your injuries were extensive. A missing arm, four breaks in your other arm, eight broken ribs, two punctured lungs, a ruptured liver, a broken nose, a broken left hip, a sprained right ankle, a cracked skull, severe head and brain trauma, a sprained back, a crushed windpipe, second-and-third-degree burns everywhere, severe blood loss, and a wide variety of other scrapes and cuts." Him paused for a moment. "...Though, your official cause of death would have been a heart attack, hadnt I stepped in."

Mojo stared at Him. "..._You_ saved my life?" he asked incredulously. Him nodded. "...Why?" Him sighed, picking at a stray piece of fluff from the pink on the hem of His skirt.

"Because Bubbles begged me to," He finally said. "Normally, it's against the rules; if no one declares a surrender in my battle arena, it _must_ be a fight to the death." He shrugged. "You didnt call it quits before you were knocked out by Bubbles, and quite frankly, you didnt have time before saving her. It would have been policy to let you die of that heart attack, but Bubbles kept begging me to save you. So I did." He heaved a sigh, putting a claw dramatically over His eyes. "Such is life when I cannot deny my dearest Bubbles a favor, even against Hell policy..."

Mojo rolled his eyes at Him's flamboyant display of manly love, but then froze. "...Where is Bubbles?" he asked. Him pointed to the door.

"She's asleep," He said. "She stayed up for two weeks straight, and I finally put her to sleep just eight hours ago. I didnt want to see her in as bad shape as you were."

"...I've been out for two weeks?" Mojo asked. Him shook his head.

"Try a month and a half," he replied. "I couldnt heal all of you instantly because of all the power it took to anchor your soul to your body as I made your heart beat again; the best that I could do was accelerate your healing. You've been healed up for about two weeks now; you've just been sleeping to come back to the land of the living."

Mojo nodded, looking at his hand. "...Couldnt replace my arm, eh?" he asked, joking. Him smirked.

"I would have...but it was burnt beyond help with Bubbles' fire. And it was either your arm or your life. I took a wild guess that you wanted your life a_ liiiiitle_ more." Mojo snorted.

"Indeed," he replied. He looked sideways at Him. "....Thank you." Him nodded briskly, but His eyes were soft. Mojo looked down at his hand again. "...Why am I still human?" he asked.

"The Antidote X reversed any effects from Chemical X," Him replied. "Your powers, your super strength, speed, and agility, and even your telepathy is gone. You're still human because the mutation effect was not the result of Chemical X...it was the effect of that other chemical you were working with before it exploded all over you."

Mojo nodded, needlessly smoothing a wrinkle in his bedsheet. "I see," he replied. "So...I'm a normal human?" Him nodded.

"Pity," he replied. "You might actually have to get a _real_ job now." Mojo snorted, the corners of his lips twitching up. "Not that it'll be a problem...you still have your genius, for some reason. I'm sure you could _make_ yourself a new arm and maybe get a job as a college professor or something..." Mojo lowered his head so Him couldnt see him laugh at the demon's attempt to lighten the mood. Him smiled and leaned back in the chair. "I'm sure you also have your martial arts skills...just to a more human degree." Mojo nodded and sighed, leaning back against his pillows. Silence ensued for a few minutes.

"...What happened to Bubbles?" he asked suddenly. Him blinked, sitting up at attention. He sighed and shook his head.

"She became overcome with power," He replied. "When I resurrected her, she again absorbed some of my power; the result was that black fire you saw in the fight. It was Hellfire, my most powerful weapon. You saw how badly it hurt Blossom...I was fortunately able to take care of that for her too... It can be used for torture; it can burn without leaving a mark or scar, but the pain will be felt until the user decides to let up on it...or it can be used as a weapon; it's hot enough to scorch even souls. Demons use it to travel in Hell; it can teleport you to any source of other Hellfire." Him smiled. "In fact, I gave Brick a Hellfire Summoner for his last birthday...he seems to like it..." Him paused when he heard Mojo 'ahem'. "...Yes, anyway...Bubbles was so overcome by that power, she lost her mind and temporarily became a demon."

"A demon...?" Mojo said, mostly to himself. "...Bubbles...a demon?" Him nodded, a grin spreading over His face.

"Yesss..." He hissed, his eyes slightly glazed over with a lustful glow in them. "....Such beauty I have never witnessed in my life, and there it was, burning with a black passion, waiting for me to ravish in all her Hellish glo..." He broke off at the look Mojo was giving Him; the look that promised a Hell of his own if Him finished that sentence. Him's complexion darkened slightly. "....She became demon-like and attacked whatever was in her general vicinity," He continued quickly. "She snapped out of it when Buttercup threw that Antidote X at her, but her demon form didnt disengage until you almost died."

Mojo nodded. "I see." He turned to look at the closed door to his room. "...And is she alright now?"

"Yes, she is," Him replied. "She hardly ate or left your side the entire time you were out, but I couldnt bear to see her waste away waiting for you. So I put her to sleep for the whole day. She should wake up in about eighteen hours." Mojo nodded again, then sighed.

"...Would it be wrong to say that I'm hungry?" he asked. Him's face brightened as He shot up and clasped His claws together.

"Not at _aaaall_!" He sang out, flouncing for the door. "I'll whip something up for you in a jiffy! Dont go anywhere...!" He skipped out the door, shoving the Rowdyruffs and the two Powerpuffs into the room. "Here's some company! Taaaa!"

Mojo stared at the remainders of his pseudo-children, knowing that they were all listening through the door the whole time. "...Hello," he said awkwardly. He was shocked when his three sons looked like they were about to cry.

"_Whaaagh_...I though Mojo-Daddy was gonna die!" Boomer cried, hugging Mojo's remaining arm. Brick gave his blonde brother a half-hearted punch in the arm.

"You're eighteen, dumbass!" he said, though it sounded like he was going to cry himself. "Start acting like it!" He wiped at his misty eyes.

"You're one to talk, you big baby!" Butch shot in, shoving Brick and using his jacket sleeve to wipe his face dry. Mojo gave them a grin and ruffled Boomer's hair.

"It is a relief to see you three alive, too," he said. His eyes went over to Blossom and Buttercup; Buttercup looking like Mojo was about to jump out of bed to kill her...and he knew why. He knew that she was afraid that he would be pissed that she had--again--attempted to stop Bubbles with Antidote X. But he knew the reasoning behind it this time, and it was a valid reason. He held her in no contempt.

...Not even now, not anymore.

He looked at Blossom, who was avoiding eye contact. He could tell that she was in the same boat as Buttercup, thinking that he still hated them. ...But he didnt. That dark weight in his heart was gone, and he couldnt bring himself to even hold them in contempt for the past. So he decided to make that known, in time. "...How is your hand?" he asked Blossom. Blossom blinked in surprise, looking at her hand.

"...It's fine now," she replied. She shifted a little. "But since Bubbles lost the Hellfire power before she could take the pain away, Him had to take me all the way to the Vatican for some Holy Water....um..." She scratched the back of her head. "...Well, the Professor had to carry me the rest of the way...Holy ground and all that...."

Mojo couldnt resist a snort. "Right," he said. He turned to Buttercup. "...Stop acting like I'm going to smother you with my pillow, Buttercup," he said. "...It's fine." Buttercup raised her eyes to lock with his, and Mojo let her know silently that all was forgiven. Buttercup gave him a small smile and turned to Butch.

"Stop crying like a bitch before that's what I start calling you!" she said, shoving him a little. Butch gave her a good-natured middle finger.

"...Hey, Bitch rhymes with Butch!" Boomer cut in a few moments later. Implied facepalms resounded through the room.

"...Yes, Boomer," Mojo sighed. "It does." No one could really stay annoyed at Boomer at the proud look on his face.

"How you feeling, Mo'?" Brick asked, sitting down in the chair next to the bed. Mojo sighed.

"I've felt better," he replied. "No more pain, though I'm just...very tired." He rested his head back on his pillow. "...And hungry." Boomer nodded.

"Me too..." His stomach rumbled to emphasize his point.

"...Boomer, how can you be hungry all the time?" Buttercup asked, shaking her head.

"His brain uses up most of his energy just to freaking function, so his metabolism skyrockets," Brick replied.

"Really?"

"I'unno, but it's a good theory."

Mojo shook his head, smiling as he watched...all of his children converse.

"I bet Him-Dad is checkin' on Sis-Bubbles," Boomer absently said, playing with a lock of his hair and staring into space. "He sees her a lot..." Silence. They mostly waited for Boomer to say more; as much of an airhead as he was, he paid attention to what most didnt really notice. And made a habit of repeating what he saw to anyone and everyone. "...I think they love each other a lot...I havent seen Him-Dad do anything for anyone like He does with Sis..." He giggled. Yes. Giggled. "She's even seen Him without His makeup on!"

A collective gaping went around the room.

"...No way!" Butch cried. "_NO_-one's ever seen that! Shit, not even _us_ and we_ live_ with Him!"

"That's weird and all," Blossom said, "but what's really the big deal about it?"

"Are you _kidding_!?" Brick exclaimed. "Him's _true_ face is His biggest secret! He doesnt let _anyone_ see it!" He overdramatically shook her by the shoulders. "_ANYONE_!!!"

Mojo blinked. ...His sons truly have been spending too much time with their other father...not only was Boomer turning into a diva, but Brick had moments of drama. He shuddered to think what Butch would inherit from Him....

"I think I heard Sis say that Him-Dad's face is really handsome..." Boomer added. He shrugged. "I dont know..."

"...Boomer, stop talking," Brick commanded. Boomer nodded, keeping his lips sealed tight.

"Thank you," Mojo said. He really didnt want a visual of what Him looked like without His makeup on. But speak of the Devil (pun fully intended), Him came flouncing in, carrying a tray off food. Boomer's mouth began to water.

"No, Boomer, not for you!" Him chastised when Boomer reached for something on the tray. "There's plenty for you to eat in the kitchen! Brick, be a dear and take your brother to the kitchen before he eats the chair."

"On it," Brick said, grabbing his brother's shirt and clenching his ring hand to create black fire, then make it envelope them and vanish. Him gave the remaining three a look, and they immediately vacated the room.

"...Why would you even get him that ring?" Mojo asked, picking up a fork. Him blinked.

"...Because it was his birthday, and he needed a gift," He replied. "I got a gift for all our Boys; Brick got the Hellfire Ring so he can come in and out of Hell as he chooses without having to go through that terrible front entrance; Boomer, though you cant really tell, has the ability to channel demons with the bracelet he wears on his left wrist...though, he usually hides it with long sleeves...

"And Butch, thank goodness for him because he has the most sense and is the most responsible with his power, has the Ocularis Infernum."

"...'Eye of Hell'?" Mojo relayed, arching a brow. Him nodded.

"It lets him see whatever he wants," Him said. "I have a feeling that he occasionally uses it to spy on the Girls in the shower, but other than that, he uses it responsibly." Him shook His head. "The other two like to zip in and out of the rooms here using Brick's ring and Boomer likes to randomly summon demons to make himself 'look cool'..." Sigh. "Children are so easily amused, yes?"

"Right," Mojo said, eating his meal. "You spoil those three..." The two stayed in silence for a few minutes as Mojo ate his food and Him polished off one of His claws.

".....A little blonde-haired bird told me that Bubbles saw you without your makeup..." Mojo randomly brought up. Him's eyes widened.

".....**I'm going to kill that little punk!!!**" He growled. "That was supposed to be a private moment!" Mojo choked on the last bit of the bread he was eating.

"What do you mean by 'private'...?" he asked, giving Him an almost evil look. Him flushed a little.

"...It wasnt what you think!" Him assured, holding up His claws in a defensive gesture. "We werent doing....anything you wouldnt approve of! She just..." He flushed deeper. "...She wanted to know what I looked like without...ahem....cosmetics...."

Mojo made a thoughtful sound, settling down. "...Boomer said Bubbles thought you were handsome," he said. Him was now a crimson red, rather than a bright red.

"....I know," He said. "She said so to me....dared me to spend a week without makeup....I turned it down."

"Naturally," Mojo added. They shared a brief laugh. As they laughed, Mojo realized something...something he didnt think he would ever experience since he'd heard the news that Bubbles had died.

...Things were going to be okay.

* * *

***sigh* **


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17

* * *

**

_Bubbles stared down in horror as Mojo's eyes lost the shine of life as they closed, his chest heaving for the struggle for breath that was leaving him. Blood was trickling out of his mouth and his body was twitching violently. Buttercup was hovering in the air, her hands over her mouth from the realization of what had just happened. Bubbles let out a scream and fell to the ground next to Mojo's body, taking him in her arms. "Mojo...! Mojo, wake up!" She shook him a little, all traces of black flames gone from her body. "Wake up, please...!"_

_**"He is dying, Love."**_

_Bubbles looked up to see Him standing over her, about two feet taller than His normal height, and looking ten times as demonic. His pupil-less green eyes stared down at her, almost in pity. **"He hasnt the strength to live. He will die."**_

_"No!" Bubbles cried, tears streaming down her face. "No, he CANT die!" She hugged Mojo to her tightly. "Please...PLEASE Mojo..." She kisses his cheek and pressed her forehead to his own. "...Him...please..."_

_**"...I cannot,"** Him replied, His demonic voice full of sympathy.** "It is against the rules here...one must either forfeit, or die, for the fight to end..." **He looked down at Mojo, who had stopped moving. **"...And Mojo's heart has stopped beating."**_

_"NO!!!" Bubbles screamed, hugging Mojo tighter. "NO, HE CANT DIE!!!" She set Mojo's body aside gently, then knelt in front of Him and hugged His leg. "PLEASE, Him! PLEASE!!! Dont let my father die! _

_Buttercup had started crying, the weight of everything hitting her all at once; the fighting, the demonic power her sister had been under, Blossom getting hurt, Mojo dying, and now her sister kneeling and begging at Him's feet for life and mercy. She fell to the ground next to Blossom, pulling her sister's unconscious form to her for some comfort._

_Him looked down at the girl, feeling his black heart throb with pain at seeing her so distraught. He looked over at Mojo and saw that, even though his heart had stopped beating, his soul had not yet left the body. There WAS still time...but the rules.... He looked back down at Bubbles, who was sobbing and clawing at his boots in angst, begging for Mojo's life. _

_...There was also an unspoken rule about Devils falling in love with pure souls....that it wasnt supposed to be. But look how THAT rule had held up so far...._

_Him stepped out of Bubbles' grasp and knelt over Mojo, his black claw poking at the former ape's chest. Yes...the soul was still there...but the ties that bound soul to body were being cut quickly. If He was going to do something, then now was the time to do it. He turned Mojo's body around and bent over the body, opening Mojo's mouth, and pressed His own lips to Mojo's._

_Buttercup was traumatized, but not so far gone as to ignore the Devil-on-Former-Ape action that was going on in front of her. Her eyes widened as Him's lips enveloped Mojo's, and His claw press against Mojo's chest. Him's black aura appeared, hovering around Him like a dark mist, then traveled down His claw and into Mojo's chest. Him let out a deep breath down Mojo's throat, and pulled His lips back, revealing a black substance coming from His mouth and going into Mojo's. As this was happening, Him's form became smaller and less muscular; His claws turned red again, and the top of His dress and the oversized pink collar reappeared. Finally, Him pulled back and raised His claws up over His head, His voice carrying into the abyss as he spoke in an unrecognizable and unpronounceable ancient tongue. _

_Mojo's body glowed in the same black aura Him's had, then it faded into a light purple color and eventually vanished. As soon at it was gone, Mojo's body kicked itself back into gear, and his heart beat once more; his lungs drew in air so hard his body convulsed with the first few breaths before relaxing and breathing normally._

_Him backed up from Mojo and stood up, walking over to the still-crying Bubbles, and pulled her into His arms. "...He's alive, Bubbles," He murmured. Bubbles ceased her crying for a moment to look at Him. "He's alive...he's back. He'll live." _

_Bubbles let out a fresh sob and threw her arms around Him's neck. "Th...thank you..." she stuttered, her words muffled by His large pink collar. "Thank you...so much...!"

* * *

_

Bubbles' eyes flew open and she sat up straight in her bed, her heart thumping against her chest. She took a moment to realize that she was in the present, and pushed her hair out of her face with a shaking hand. She had just had a dream of how the battle had ultimately ended. It had been so scary...she had almost lost Mojo, and Him had to convert all the power He had accumulated during their fight into life energy for Mojo and sacrifice it all to bring him back from the border of death.

After they had made sure Mojo's other injuries were taken care of and that Blossom was going to be just fine, Bubbles had asked Him--in private--what she could ever do to repay Him. Him had just replied that He'd think about it, then gave her a kiss that--to her complete embarrassment--Blossom, Buttercup, _and_ the Professor had walked in on. Him had yelled out a few strings of curses that between the swearing raved about how He and Bubbles never had any privacy. And then it was the Professor who had gone into 'Father mode' and demanded what sort of actions were to be taken in those would-be 'private moments'.

It had taken over an hour to assure the Professor that she and Him had done nothing but kiss....and grope,_ but that was it!_

Bubbles swung her legs to the side of the bed, sighing. Him must've used His power to send her to sleep, because He had been saying for days that she needed some rest. She smiled to herself. ...He really did care about her. It was why He had brought her back in the first place...He had told her Himself that He had had feelings for her since she was thirteen. She found that very creepy, but oddly endearing. She had discovered that He had been watching her since she had her fire power just six months after her birthday when Him crashed it and shot her with some of His power.

She remembered being too scared to touch most of anything, and was especially afraid of her anger. That was when Him had shown up again, just for her, and had shown her a surprising charity by teaching her how to use it. He taught her how to channel it with emotion, and how to summon it at will. All this He did without any underlying scheme, none other than to simply help her control it. They had stayed in very light contact for the next few years, with almost nothing more than a 'hello, how are you?' every now and then. After their birthday fiasco, He hadnt attacked them directly again.

Bubbles also remembered seeing Him when she had finally gotten her soul back. His face was the first thing she saw, and she really couldnt help but notice how handsome He really was. She remembered the tender smile He had given her...the gentleness of His hold as He helped her up....the look on His face when she realized that she was naked, and smacked Him halfway across Hell. Bubbles had to smile at that memory, remembering how Him had covered His eyes with His claws and proclaimed His apologies and desire not for her to hit Him again.

...And every moment she got away from her brothers to spend some time alone with Him was precious. Him was a perfect gentleman with her; He treated her with care and respect and fulfilled her every little whim. And that first kiss they had shared...He had sprung it up on her at random while they were walking through His personal little garden that was enchanted to look like an English countryside. They were walking hand-in-claw as Bubbles pointed out different pretty flowers, and when she had turned to Him to ask what His favorite flower was, He had pressed His lips to hers and pulled her closer.

They stayed in that garden for well over two hours, until Boomer started wailing that he was hungry and forgotten the way to the kitchen...

Bubbles walked over to her closet and picked out a nice outfit to wear--a short white pleated skirt with a blue long-sleeved shirt with fur lining the collar, with blue thigh-high stockings and those white boots with the fur on top she loved so much--and set them out on the bed, thinking that a lot of the clothes Him had given her resembled His own personal style quite a lot. She sat down at her vanity and brushed her hair out, thinking about things, for a few minutes, then put on her clothes and was about to apply some makeup when there was a knock at her door.

"Oh...come in!" she called. She turned back to the vanity, expecting either her brothers or sisters to come through the door--or even Him (despite the Professor's warnings for them not to be alone in her room...at all...while he was there); but when she looked up into her vanity mirror, she saw the reflection of Mojo smiling back at her. She whipped around and saw that the refection was real, and let out a loud squeal of joy as she bolted out of her chair and dive-hugged him.

Mojo laughed and held her with his remaining arm as she cried and hugged him, proclaiming her joy that he was alive and all better. Mojo patted her back and sat up. "I'm okay, Bubbles," he said softly. "...I'm alive."

* * *

***sniffle* Oh, so sweet....well, the story is coming to an end...just one or two more to go!**


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18

* * *

**

After things had calmed down after a day or two, everyone found themselves sitting in Him's living room, the designated two 'opposing sides' staring at the other uncomfortably while Him fetched some refreshments in the kitchen--this time taking Boomer, seeing as how Mojo knew what would happen should He take Bubbles with Him.

The Professor, Blossom, and Buttercup sat on one end of the living room as Mojo, Bubbles, Brick, and Butch sat on the other. There was a very awkward silence between the two parties. Bubbles finally sighed and decided to break the silence.

"...I'm thinking about coming back to Townsville," she announced. The Utoniums' faces brightened with joy as the Rowdyruffs made sounds of protest.

"No way!" Butch exclaimed. "Dont go back! Stay here!"

"Have you told Him about this yet?" Brick added. "He wont be too happy!"

"Who cares about what Him thinks!" Buttercup shot back. "It's what Bubbles wants now! And she wants to come home!"

"...Actually, I was going to live with Mojo..."

"What!?"

"What is all the ruckus about?" Him said, reappearing and carrying some trays as Boomer followed, carrying one and eating what was already on it. "I thought we were all getting along..." He set the trays down, then sat next to Bubbles, giving her a loving smile. Bubbles returned it, though it was a little nervous.

"Bubbles is leaving!" At hearing Butch's announcement, the smile left Him's face.

"...What?" he asked, His voice a little higher than normal. Bubbles gave him a reassuring smile.

"I'm going to live with Mojo," she said. "Everything's alright now, so--."

"Oh my!" Him cried, leaping to His feet. "I left some cookies in the oven, I'll be right back...!"

"...You didnt leave any cookies in the--"

"**Shut up, Boomer!**" Him growled, then practically stomped back into the black wall towards the kitchen. Bubbles felt a well of hurt rise in her gut.

"Him, wait!" she cried, running after Him.

"....Told'ya He wouldnt like it," Brick said, helping himself to one of the pastries.

* * *

In the kitchen, Him was standing over the sink, His claws gripping the counter hard and making it crack. He looked as though He wanted to desecrate the place over and over again. Bubbles came in right after Him, standing a small distance away. "...Him?" she said softly. Him didnt turn around. "Him...please dont be upset over this..."

"Upset?" Him turned around, a forced smile on His face. "Who's upset? I'm not upset! Why would I be upset? You're going back home...you're just leaving me to **rot in this Hell by myself!**" He threw a dishtowel on the ground, making it burst into angry green flames as it hit the floor. He turned back to the sink. "...I'm not upset."

Bubbles bit her lower lip, fighting not to cry. "Him..." She walked up to Him and put her hand on His shoulder, ignoring the flinch He made from the contact. "Him...I'm not leaving you...I'll come back...!"

"Yes, you are leaving me," Him replied harshly. "Everything's been done as you wanted...you were brought back to life...you reunited with your father...you got your fight. My usefulness has run out, hasnt it?"

"Dont talk like that!" Bubbles cried, forcefully turning Him to face her. "How could you say that!? I'm not leaving you forever! I'll come back! We'll stay together!" She hugged Him around His chest. "I could never leave you...not after all you've done for me..."

Him's arms hung by His sides, not bringing themselves to hug her back. "...It doesnt work like that," Him said. "You cant just go back and forth between Earth and Hell at your whim...it's either here or there. You can visit...but only a certain number of hours in the month." He pulled her back to look her in the eye. "When I brought your brothers back, they chose to stay on Earth until they were sixteen...then they decided to permanently remain in Hell because they knew that Earth had no place for them. They can visit, but they cant stay up there for more than twelve hours out of the month. If you go back to Earth...the same thing will apply to you when you visit down here..." He lowered His eyes. "...Even I am bound by that law; the only way around it to stay longer is in a place festering of violence, destruction, and hatred....and if I'm with you, I am near none of those things. It cannot work out like the way you want it to...not this time."

Bubbles burst into tears, knowing that Him was right. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed as Him finally hugged her, stroking her hair with the tip of His claw. He was the most upset because there _were_ ways for them to stay together...but none of them they could really afford.

"Please..." Bubbles murmured through her tears. "...Please tell me that there's a loophole...!" Him cursed her apparent ability to guess His thoughts, and squeezed a little.

"...There are," He replied. "...But I dont think...either of us will really go through with them wholeheartedly..."

"What are they?" Bubbles asked, her voice stronger. Him swallowed a little, hating that he was putting almost impossible choices in front of her.

"...One is for me to become mortal," He replied. "But in order for that to happen, I would need a blood successor...and though I would shudder at the thought of leaving your brothers in charge, I would, but they are not blood relatives.

"The second is for you to...sacrifice one human life for every year you wish to be with me." He felt Bubbles stiffen, knowing that that was a no. "...The third is for us to be married; a King cannot travel back and forth for as long as He wants alone, but He can with His Queen....basic rule point and all..."

"...Well, why not?"

"Because a King and Queen of Hell united are very--"

"No, I meant..." Bubbles pulled back a little. "...Why cant we be married?"

Silence.

"...You cant be serious," Him said, His face an almost hilarious sight. Bubbles frowned.

"Why not?" she said. "...You know I love you, right?" Him's eyes widened. He had, in fact, not known that fact. He knew that he loved her, but He simply thought that she thought of Him more as regular boyfriend material. He had some thoughts that she would one day find someone more compatible than He, and that she would go...but He had no idea that she loved Him. "...Oh," she said, a look of realization on her face. "...Right...that one's impossible because you dont want to marry me...or cant, seeing how I'm not a demon or anything..."

"No, no, that's not it!" Him said quickly. "I...I _do_ want to marry you! And we _can_ get married! Being mortal or innocent has nothing to do with it!"

"Then what's the problem?" Bubbles asked. Him sighed and looked around to make sure no one was looking, then teleported them into His room.

His room was quite...different from the rest of His normal domain. It was decorated in a very odd fashion; a huge, Emperor-sized bed took up a lot of space, and had a large black demonic-looking frame around it. There were red transparent drapes that encompassed it, and a red comforter with black sheets. Across from it was a huge black vanity with a large mirror. In an adjacent room was His bathroom that changed its form depending on His mood; it would turn simple but luxurious when He was in a pampering mood, or dark and seductive when He....well, anyway....

Bubbles had only been to His room once before, when she asked what He had looked like without His makeup on. He had taken her to this room because it was the only room that the Rowdyruffs couldnt access, no matter what, without permission. She always thought that it was beautiful and romantic... She turned and looked at Him, who smiled at her and led her to His vanity chair to sit her down.

"Wait here," He said, then walked into His closet as though to look for something. Bubbles waited patiently at first, but then began to amuse herself by spinning around in the swiveling chair, giggling to herself. She stopped in front of the vanity, and looked at all there was.

There was a set of ebony combs that looked like they were made from obsidian rock and ornate with red jewels. There was also what seemed to be His most prized simple possessions--His makeup. They looked custom-made in custom shiny black containers, and were very rich in color. The silky black lipstick...the rose-colored rouge...the ink-black eyeliner and mascara... She smiled, running the tip of her finger over the containers. She didnt know why He even wore it...not that it made Him look all bad, no...she thought that Him looked kind of pretty with the makeup on...but with it off....she had never seen a more handsome face.

"Bubbles."

Bubbles turned around and was shocked to see Him standing in the doorframe of His closet...wearing...well, not a dress. Instead, He was wearing red pants and a red jacket that had a large white fur collar. The jacket was open, and His chest was bare underneath. His makeup was almost gone, save for His lipstick. Bubbles could feel her face redden and heat up, and Him smiled.

"I take it you approve?" He asked. Bubbles numbly nodded. "Good." Him walked up to Bubbles and knelt down on one knee, taking her hands in His claws. "Because my mother told me that if I ever did this, I should do it dressed like a man, rather than like my sister...but anyway..." His claws squeezed her hands gently, but not enough to hurt. "Bubbles, this is not something to take lightly. If you go through with this, you will become an immortal...your family will not. You will outlive them for eternity, until you are killed, or until you--Hell forbid--commit suicide." He took a moment to let it sink in. "...Bubbles believe me when I say that I want you to be mine with all my heart. You are the perfect balance for me...and balance is key to existence...will you be the good to my evil?"

Bubbles clenched her hands into Him's claws, thinking about it long and hard. She knew that Him was giving her perhaps her most difficult decision in her life...and God, _was_ it! Him was giving her the chance to accept or deny His offer; to visit each other in small moments of time, or to be together forever, only to see those she loved pass on as she lived on. ....But would it really be so horrid? She loved her family very much, and was sure that they would all live long and happy lives. And quite frankly...she couldnt really imagine living the rest of her life knowing that she and Him would never be able to have a proper relationship. She loved Him. A lot.

"....Him..." she said softly, "....can I...visit my family...a lot?" Him nodded.

"Anytime you wish," He replied. "For days, weeks, even months at a time. But you must return back to Hell within a one-year period."

Bubbles bit her lip and lowered her head, her hands shaking. ".....Ask me," she said. Him blinked.

"Hm?"

"Ask me," she repeated, looking up at Him. Him got the gist and nodded, reaching one claw into His pocket and bringing out a small black and gold ornate box.

"Bubbles Utonium-Jojo," He said, opening up the box to reveal a silver ring with strange spirally accents and a red jewel in the center. He held the box up to her. "...Will you marry me and become my Queen?"

Bubbles burst into tears and threw her arms around Him. "Yes!" she cried, then pulled back to kiss Him, nearly knocking Him off balance. Him turned and deposited her on the foot of His bed and kissed her harder, never so happy in His life.

* * *

Back in the living room, the Professor was looking at his watch. "...They've been gone for nearly half an hour," he said.

"Ooh, do you think they're having a fight?" Boomer asked, looking worried. "I dont like it when they're mad! They get scary!" Mojo stuck his head through the black wall to check the kitchen.

"They're not in the kitchen," he remarked, putting his hand on his hip. "They had better not be fighting or doing anything else I would want to kick their asses over..."

"The feeling's mutual," the Professor said darkly.

"Hey, calm down!" Blossom cut in. "Bubbles is probably reassuring Him that she's not gonna leave Him for good!"

"Why?" Buttercup said, making a face. "Who wants to date a demonic transvestite anyway?"

"Hey, shut up about our other dad!" Brick shot back. Buttercup growled and stood eye-to-eye with him.

"And why should I, dumbass?"

"I'm not dumb, I have a 300 IQ!"

"Break it up!" Mojo shouted, pushing them away from each other. He turned to Butch. "Butch, can you see where they are?"

Butch nodded and closed his eyes, and a third eye opened in the middle of his forehead, kind of freaking everyone but his brothers out. He was silent for a moment, then covered up his regular eyes needlessly and screamed, "_OH, GROSS_!!!"

"What, what is it?!" Blossom shouted, a little scared. Butch shook his head as though to empty what he just saw out.

"Him and Sis...!" he choked out, looking very grossed-out indeed. "They were....oh, God!" Seeming unable to say it himself, he whispered in Boomer's ear, and Boomer broke out in a huge grin.

"THEY'RE MAKING BABIES!!!" he shouted.

"_WHAT!?_" everyone else shouted, though both the designated fathers of Bubbles shouted loudest, quite thoroughly pissed off.

"I am going to _KILL_ Him!" Mojo shrieked.

"How could He!? She's still just a girl!" the Professor agreed.

"....Yo, Professor man, she's almost 19..." Brick cut in.

"That's besides the point!" both fathers shouted back. Mojo took off running through the abyss.

"_HIM_!!!" he screamed. "_GET OFF OF MY DAUGHTER AND GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW_!!!" Everyone else followed Mojo, who snatched up Brick. "Take me to Him's room!" he demanded.

"I cant!" Brick cried, flailing his arms. "Him's room is off-limits! It doesnt even have a door! Only Him and anyone else He gives permission to can go in!!!" Mojo growled and flung him aside, prepared to tear all of Hell a new one.

"Dear me, what seems to be going on?"

Everyone whipped around to see Him standing be behind them, wearing His normal clothes and makeup, with one claw on His hip and the other around Bubbles, who was looking at them, confused. Mojo stalked up to Him, jabbing a finger into His chest.

"I'll tell you what's going on!" he yelled. "You were--again!--having improper relations with my daughter, which is to say you were in the process of having sexual relations with her without my consent as her father, who happens to be in the same dwelling as you, and should have a right to know if and when you intend to have such relations with my daughter, which you were _were_!" Mojo took a moment to catch his breath, kind of unused to ranting by this point, and was about to start up again when Bubbles cut in.

"Mojo, we werent having sex!" she exclaimed, her face red. "Um...yeah, were kinda....kissing....and....other stuff, but not sex! Him already agreed to no sex until we're married!"

"I dont care if you are married! Even then I think that I should have a--!" Mojo paused mid-sentence. "....Relay that last phrase to me once more," he said, his voice quiet and almost dead.

"...No sex until we're married?"

"Yeah....that last word again?"

"...Married?"

"...........................What?" Bubbles groaned and shoved her hand into Mojo's line of vision.

"Married!" she cried. "Married! That's why we were alone! Him asked me to marry Him, and I said yes!"

Mojo felt one of those familiar twitches over his eye, and had just enough time to give Him a 'I will destroy you' glare before passing out.

There was silence in the hall before Blossom and the Rowdyruffs--especially Boomer--crowded around Bubbles, yelling out congratulations and begging to see the ring. Buttercup and the Professor looked about ready to join Mojo on the floor. Him just gave them the most innocent look he could.

"...Well, _she's_ the one who said yes," he accused, pointing at Bubbles. "I just asked!" It was a lame excuse and everyone knew it. The Professor crosses his arms.

"...Over my dead body," he growled. Him gulped. He knew that He had to get permission from the parents to marry Bubbles...a law His own father had passed eons ago and one He wished would have never come into play. The Professor then looked at Bubbles, who was looking back at him with wide, pleading eyes. He sighed.

"...Until she's at least old enough to drink champagne at her own wedding."

Bubbles let out a fresh squeal and tackled Him in another hug.

After most of the hubbub had died down, Boomer picked up his unconscious first father and they were in the process of heading for the living room again to discuss things when Buttercup interrupted.

"...Married?" she asked, looking at Him. "...I thought you were gay!"

* * *

***facepalm* He's flamboyant, not gay! **


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19

* * *

**

_Two years later..._

Many things had changed, since Bubbles had accepted Him's proposal.

Mojo went back to Earth and was indeed ecstatic to find that his intelligence had remained intact. He had built himself a cybernetic arm--with some help from Blossom--and made it so well it blended in perfectly with the rest of him. He knew that after everything that had happened, a life of crime was something that just didnt appeal to him anymore. So he had taken every invention made for evil and threw them into the volcano. After the fact, he had gotten a civilian job--as an English professor at the same university the Professor taught chemistry.

It was a good and fulfilling job, Mojo came to find, and he was almost evilly pleased when again his redundant use for the English language was passed from him to his students. The school board was amazed that every class Mojo taught, every single one of the students passed with perfect scores and grades. After just his first year, he was given tenure.

Blossom and Buttercup both went to college; Blossom wanting to major in science and minor in Chinese linguistics, and Buttercup decided to go into business. Both of them were constantly pursued by their Rowdyruff counterparts, and for the longest time, both refused dates with them. Finally, Buttercup said yes to Butch, who took her out to a club for a billiards date--until it was crashed by a jealous Ace, with whom Butch got into a territorial pissing match with. In the end, the club went into flames, Butch was grounded by Him to stay in Hell without the Ocularis Infernum for two months, and Ace was blacklisted from all clubs and bars within a two-mile radius. Buttercup had never had a better date in her life; as quoted by her, "I got free food, free entertainment, and two guys fighting over me. It was bitchin'!"

Bubbles had, as she had said, moved in with Mojo and finished her last year of high school, per Mojo's request. After she graduated, she found a little part-time job at the animal shelter to help pass some time while waiting for her 21st birthday; the year that she could finally get married.

After a long and serious discussion with both of her fathers, everyone had agreed that Bubbles and Him would hold off on the wedding until Bubbles turned 21. Bubbles was alright with that, at was Him, and they stayed in contact for those two years, going on engagement dates and planning the wedding down to the stitching in Bubbles' dress.

Him actually picked out a dress He thought would look nice--a red one with black trimming--but both Mojo and the Professor put their foot down. They said that they wanted Him dressed like a man, whereas Bubbles had reassured Him that she didnt care what Him wore to the wedding, as long as He was at the very least clothed below the thigh. Him said that He would think on it.

As for the location, Him said that it might be easier and less of a hassle to just have it in Hell's chapel. Bubbles had to think of the pros and cons about it for about a month before Him told her that members of His family might be coming. She had said that Hell's chapel was a fine choice after all...

* * *

Finally, two weeks after her 21st birthday, Bubbles was standing in front of the mirror in her wedding dress, being fussed over and attended by Blossom and Buttercup. She looked at herself in the mirror, feeling her heart race with excitement. Her dress was pure white; it was strapless with a corset-like top with a cross-pattern down the front and a large collar of white fur wrapping around her arms, leaving her shoulders bare. The skirt part was flared and layered in an inverted V-shape; the first layer being a smooth and thin silky cloth and the second a lacy petticoat and the third a ruffled silky texture; the fourth layer was also silky and embroidered with silvery designs that barely showed up from the stark white. The lining of the inverted V-shape on the top layer was also lined with white fur. Around her waist was a red ribbon that wound around to her back and tied in an elegant bow.

It was a very beautiful dress that not even Him or either of her fathers had seen, and she was fine with that; she loved surprises.

Her hair was styled so most of it was up in a serpentine-shape with little locks falling out around the curves, and two locks falling right on either side of her face. A silver tiara with a red jewel in the center was styled into her hair, and matching earrings adorned her ears. She was wearing silvery eyeliner and silver-colored mascara (stuff she had to get custom from Him), and that was all the makeup she wore.

Her hands held her bouquet tightly, making the red roses quiver within the white leaves. Blossom finished straightening out the dress and smiled at her sister. "You're all set," she said, giving Bubbles a reassuring squeeze to the arm. Bubbles let out a shuddery sigh and nodded. Buttercup straightened up and pulled at the skirt of her black dress.

"You'll do fine!" she said. "You got through the inquisition from Him's _DAD_! I think you can go through with the wedding!" She gave her sister a comforting smack on the back. "So let's go!" Bubbles nodded again and stepped off of the stool to have her sisters lead her to the entrance hall where her fathers were waiting for her.

The Professor and Mojo were waiting nervously by the doorway into the chapel, jittery with nerves. Not just because their daughter was getting married, but also because most everyone on the groom side was of demonic or devilish origin. Their nerves were numbed when they finally saw their daughter walk toward them in all her beautiful glory. She smiled at the two of them and hugged them both.

"Ready?" she asked them. Professor, then Mojo, nodded, and they each offered her an arm, which she took after handing her bouquet to Blossom and Buttercup to hold together, as they were the Maids of Honor, and waited for the doors to open.

The doors to the Hell's chapel were tall and Gothique; black with bone designs on them with a pentagram that was split down the middle of the doors. It was ominous, but Bubbles knew that beyond those dark doors lay her bright future. Finally, after several moments of waiting, the doors opened and the anthem that both Bubbles and Him chose began to play: _Fleurs du Mal. _It seemed perfect for them.

_Is it you I keep thinking of?  
Should I feel like I do?  
Ive come to know that I miss your love  
While I'm not missing you  
We run  
Til its gone  
Et les fleurs du mal (and the flowers of evil)  
Wont let you be  
You hold the key to an open door  
Will I ever be free?_

Blossom and Buttercup walked in first, being accompanied by their counterparts, walked in first, the dark light making the chapel somehow feel alive with demonic energy. They walked in slowly, in time with the orchestra that was playing the song. When they came to the alter, they parted--Blossom and Buttercup stood near the center and Brick and Butch to either side of the alter.

_Les fleurs du mal unfold (The flowers of evil unfold)  
Comme les fleurs du mal (The flowers of evil)  
Dark demons of my soul  
Un amour fatal (A fatal love)  
Been tryin' hard to fight  
Comme les fleurs du mal (As the flowers of evil)  
Les fleurs du mal inside (The flowers of evil inside)  
Un amour fatal (A fatal love)_

After they had taken their places, Boomer walked side-by side with a small demon girl-- that was also Him's niece--as the ring bearer and the flower girl. The young demon girl sprinkled the ground with black rose petals as Boomer carried an ornate black cushion with two rings on it--a small silver one for Bubbles, and a large golden one for the wrist of Him's claw. They walked all the way up to the alter and parted ways--the demon girl to Bubble's side and Boomer to Him's.

_All my life Ive been waiting for  
In this perfume of pain  
To forget when I needed more  
Of loves endless refrain  
We live  
And we pray  
Pour les fleurs du mal (For the flowers of evil)  
Ive lost my way  
What is done will return again  
Will I ever be free?_

Finally, Bubbles took a deep breath as it was her turn. She stepped in time with her fathers, keeping her eyes on the red and black alter, where tall figure in a black ceremonial hood stood waiting behind it with long, dead-pale hands were folded in front of them patiently. Her eyes then roamed to her side, where many citizens and villains of Townsville alike had attended, and were looking on at her adoringly through the apparent fear of those on the other end of the chapel. Said other end had various demons and devils of different looks and ranks, who were looking at her appraisingly, especially those related directly to Him. Bubbles put on her bravest face and looked forward, noticing that Him's back was turned to her as He faced the alter head.

_Les fleurs du mal unfold (The flowers of evil unfold)  
Comme les fleurs du mal (The flowers of evil)  
Dark demons of my soul  
Un amour fatal (A fatal love)  
Been tryin' hard to fight  
Comme les fleurs du mal (The flowers of evil)  
Les fleurs du mal inside (The flowers of evil inside)  
Un amour fatal (A fatal love)_

Mojo stared at his daughter, sort of worried about what she was thinking. He knew that she had every right to be scared, and not just from pre-wedding jitters. No, she was in a church of Hell, and was surrounded by unholy...beings. But she was looking very brave and he could see in her eyes that she was ready for this; she was ready to marry Him. He smiled a little and squeezed her hand with his own, feeling her squeeze back.

_Les fleurs du mal (The flowers of evil)  
Comme les fleurs du mal (As the flowers of evil)  
Un amour fatal (A fatal love)  
Comme les fleurs du mal (As the flowers of evil)_

They finally made it to the alter and stood waiting until the High Priest raised his head, his face shadowed by the hood of his cloak.

"Who gives this Child of Light away to a Prince of Darkness?" he asked, his voice sounding like he was speaking a language of pure ice. Both of Bubbles' fathers squeezed her arms.

"I do," the Professor said, his voice soft with slight fear.

"As do I," Mojo said assent. The High Priest nodded to them, and they each kissed Bubbles' cheek and let her go to be seated. Bubbles was now alone to do this on her own. The High Priest gestured her forward, and she stepped forward, taking her bouquet from Blossom, and keeping her eyes forward.

Him had explained the rules of conduct in a Black Wedding; she was to do as the High Priest said, and nothing more of your own accord. So if he did not say to face Him, then she was not to do so. So Bubbles kept her eyes forward as the High Priest spoke in an icy language, making ritualistic gestures at them in a demonic blessing. Bubbles' hands were clenching her bouquet very tightly, trying to stop her hands from shaking as the High Priest finished his blessings.

"Turn to your Intended," the High Priest spoke in English. Bubbles took a breath and turned to Him...and felt her heart flutter and beat heavily.

Him had taken on His true form--a masculine-looking devil with glowing green eyes. He wasnt wearing His makeup, and His hair was hanging loose around His face. He stood almost two feet taller than her, and was wearing a long black coat that trailed all the way to the floor that was open in the front to show off His muscular chest, with a large black fur collar that trailed all the way down to the back of the coat. The sleeves were tight against His arms, and His black claws shined in the dark reddish light of the chapel. Him stared down at her, giving her a small smile. Bubbles smiled back as the High Priest gave them a few more blessings, then gestured to the alter.

The alter was black with a black cloth draped over it that had a red pentacle embroidered into it. On the cloth were two candles; one black and one white, two silver chalices with demonic runes engraved into them, a black bottle of some substance, and an ornate ceremonial atheme that looked like it had been used a lot more than once before.

"Ye, who hath been dubbed with the name of His Infernal Majesty," the High Priest addressed to Him, who turned to face the High Priest. "Do ye take this Child of the Light to be thy immortal Queen, thy balance to the Darkness?" he asked. Him nodded.

**"I do,"** He said, His eyes on the High Priest, who turned to Bubbles.

"Ye who hath been graced with the name of Bubbles," he said, "do ye take this Dark Prince to be thy immortal King, thy balance to the Light?" Bubbles nodded, also keeping her eyes forward.

"I do," she said, her voice strong. The High Priest picked up the atheme and spoke a few more words, then held it out to Him.

"Shed they blood," he said. "Give to thy Intended so she may join thee in Darkness Eternal."

Him took the atheme in His claw and pierced His wrist, just below His claw, and let it slowly drip black blood into the chalice. After the fact, he held the blade to the High Priest, who wiped it clean with a black cloth, and handed it to Bubbles, who now knew why Him told her to get a wedding dress that didnt include gloves.

"Shed thy blood; give to thy Intended so he may thee in Darkness Eternal."

Bubbles took a shuddery breath and handed her bouquet back to Blossom, and took the atheme to cut deep into her palm, not even flinching, then let her red blood spill into her own chalice. She then held the atheme back to the High Priest, who again wiped it clean, then picked up the black bottle, again performing some sort of blessing, and poured a small amount of dark red--almost black--liquid into each chalice, then picked up a long thin black stick and made a red flame appear at the tip, and handed it to Him, who lit the white candle, making a black flame. The High Priest gave the candle a blessing, then Him handed the stick to Bubbles, who lit the black candle, creating a white flame. The High Priest blessed this candle as well, then gestured to the chalices.

"Drink of thy Intended," he spoke, "and be bound together for Eternity."

Both Bubbles and Him picked up their chalices and exchanged them for the others', then after a moment of staring into each other's eyes, they drank out of the chalice at the same time.

Bubbles felt an icy cold liquid run down her throat as she drank the strange liquid laced with Him's blood, and as soon as she had drunk the last drop, she felt it heat up like fire inside of her. She had to restrain herself from crying out loud, and instead endured it as long as she could as the High Priest spoke a few more words, making blessing gestures with both of his hands, then gestured to Boomer for the cushion. He had done his job as seriously and carefully as possible, and backed away when the High Priest took the rings from the cushion and also blessed them, then had Him raise Bubbles' hand so he could slide the ring on her finger, making it glow with a red light before it faded; he did the same with Him, and blessed them both again.

"His Infernal Majesty," he finally spoke to Him, "take thy wife into thine arms and place upon her a kiss that shall bind thee together for all Eternity."

Him didnt need telling twice; he pulled Bubbles into His arms, leaning down to face her, then whispered _**"I love you,"**_ against her lips before kissing her.

All burning pain Bubbles felt inside of her vanished as Him kissed her. She wrapped her arms around His neck and kissed Him back, feeling something inside of her change; she couldnt describe it, but she knew for a fact that this was the binding of their souls together for all eternity. And it was the greatest feeling she had ever experienced in her life.

"I pronounce thee married in Darkness!" the High Priest announced, holding his arms out wide. Everyone on Him's side of the chapel let out a unanimous demonic roar of congratulations, making nearly everyone else on Bubbles' side cower in fear. But they eventually got over it and stood up to cheer for Bubbles too. The High Priest quietly vanished into nothing as everyone celebrated the union of Him and Bubbles.

* * *

***sniff* Damn it, I'm crying....*sigh* Just one more chapter to go...I sad.**

**PS: Bubbles' wedding dress looks something like this: **http: // media. onsugar. com / files / ons1 / 260 / 2601459 / 14_2009 / 03820017d68446e0 _ modest _ wedding _ dress. preview. jpg **(just delete the spaces)**

**PSS: The wedding song: **http: // www . youtube . com / watch?v = B65CFK8YNuE & feature= channel _ page


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20

* * *

**

The reception was a thing of pure insanity.

Demons and Devils mingled with mortals, do-gooders and criminals alike, and everyone had a blast doing it. For the reception, Him had changed out of His wedding outfit and devilish form and was now wearing a fancier--and slightly more masculine--version of His everyday wear; the red dress was converted into a long red coat that touched the floor, and instead of a pink fur collar, it was black. The cuffs of the sleeves were also covered in black fur, as was the bottom lining of the coat. It was fastened around His middle, showing off His chest, and He was wearing skintight black pants that were tucked into shin-high stiletto boots.

Bubbles had changed into a shorter white dress that was sleeveless with spaghetti straps and it hung loose around her down to her knees with a red ribbon around her waist.. She was also wearing white heels with an ankle strap. They were the most mis-matched couple one could even pick out.

Bubbles remained by Him's side as they both surveyed the entire room. Him had eight older siblings (He was the youngest born in His family); Lilith was the oldest, and Bubbles thought that she was one of the most beautiful women she'd ever seen. She had long black hair, eyes that were exactly the same as Him's, and pale white skin. She wore a long slinky black dress that reminded Bubbles greatly of a snake. She soon found that it was perfect for Lilith's image, since She was responsible for original sin--she was the snake that tempted Eve. ("Charming," Mojo had said sarcastically.) She was an overall nice person to Bubbles, but kept trying to seduce Mojo to no avail, surprisingly.

The second-oldest was Lucifer, who reminded Bubbles of what a true demon should look like; his skin was dark grey and his black hair was long and wild, blending in well with two black horns that stuck out from his head. His eyes were constantly glowing green, and of all Him's siblings, he spoke the least, using his eyes to communicate. He had such a black aura around him that Bubbles couldnt even see his face clearly. But he seemed to be having quite the stimulating nonverbal conversation with Buttercup, who kept staring at him.

Next was Mephistopheles and Beelzebub, the twins. Both of them resembled Him in the facial features, but they had no facial hair, and their hair was spiked up rather than slicked back. They both had constant mischievous expressions and were constantly looking at the Rowdyruffs with lustful expressions. Him told Bubbles earlier on that they were the masterminds behind Sodom and Gomorrah.

After them was Abaddon, who reminded Bubbles of Ace. His hair was shoulder-length and slicked back, and he was constantly playing with what Bubbles saw were Tarot cards and playing card tricks with a regular deck. He also had a large coin that he turned between his fingers, and a pair of dice he liked to toss in the air and catch. He also said very little, but that was because he was preoccupied with his 'toys'. He presided over gambling, especially over souls. In fact, he seemed to make fast friends with the Gangreen Gang leader, who had card skills that rivaled this Devil.

Then there was Belial, who looked younger than Him, but that was an obvious illusion; his forte was the corruption of innocence. Bubbles found this very disturbing, but she found that when it wasnt business, Belial was quite friendly. His daughter had been the flower girl in the wedding.

After him was Satan, who looked almost like Him's everyday form--sans the makeup--but he was a bit taller and wore much more masculine clothes. He liked to laugh and joke a lot, and laid claim on the Satanist religion. He was currently talking to Sedusa, wondering if she was related to his sister-in-law, Medusa...

The second-to-last-born was Lamia. Lamia's current role was a Soul Collector; he usually came to collect what Abaddon fairly won. Bubbles thought that he looked like an escaped asylum patient, but he seemed to fit in right at home with the rest of the Gangreen Gang, sans the green skin, of course.

As for Him's father...Bubbles still shuddered whenever she saw him..._HE_ was the real overall ruler of Hell. The _REAL_ Devil. As in, the First of the Fallen. Samael. Though, he didnt go by that name anymore, since it was stripped from him; Him had been more or less named after His father; His Infernal Majesty. Technically, Him's father didnt have a name; all of the names that mankind had nicknamed him he had given to his sons rather than take them on himself.

Bubbles was no fool to think that Him's father would be...well...the fatherly type. She had read the Bible more than once, and heard more than a few stories from Him; but what she did know was that while Him's father despised mankind as a whole, he treated his family and all of demonkind as kin. He wasnt too happy to hear that his youngest son was wanting to marry a pure soul, but after the extensive inquisition--which Bubbles knew she would have nightmares about until the end of her days, which was never--he had finally given his consent. He was a prime example that evil did not mean unlovable; Bubbles saw that he loved his sons and daughter, and their husbands and wives, and their kin; she knew that he might grow to love her, too, in time.

Right now, Him's father had taken on a human-like appearance; he was dressed in a black tuxedo with a blood red collared shirt underneath with a black tie. His face was in similar structure to Him's, and he even had a goatee, much like Him; he also had long black hair tied back to the base of his neck. But his eyes were pure black, not letting anyone forget who he really was. He was currently standing next to his current wife (Him told Bubbles that he had already gone through 853 wives since Lilith's mother, and 32 since His own), who was a demoness of the Soul Collector class. Bubbles also saw that Him's stepmother looked like she was expecting (though, not with Him's father's child).

Bubbles heard laughter from Lilith, who was telling a story of when Him was just a small Devil boy who liked to root through her closet and put on fashion shows for His mother. Everyone around her was cracking up, and Bubbles saw Him blush deeply, which was very noticeable, since He wasnt wearing any makeup. Bubbles laughed and hugged His arm.

"That's cute," she said to Him, poking His side playfully. Him gave her a look and poked her back with His claw. She giggled and hugged Him around the middle.

* * *

Mojo looked up from nearly choking on his champagne from Lilith's horror stories of Him's childhood to look at Bubbles. He smiled when he saw her clinging happy to Him, who was hugging her back with love in His eyes. Mojo was very happy for her; he also knew that despite the Hellish family that she had married into...she was going to be taken care of. Evil, vile, tainted people these Devils were...they took care of their own. And now Bubbles was one of their own.

His glass of champagne nearly fell from his hand when the full reality hit him; his baby was married. She was going to live here with Him now...she wasnt going to live with him anymore. He felt a clenching pain in his heart, thinking of how her childhood had been wasted with him constantly trying to destroy her; he thought about how different things would have been had he stepped up to the mantle of fatherhood when she was still just a girl; about how much happier he would've been.

Excusing himself from the ring of people he was currently in, Mojo slipped out of the reception hall and stood outside the door, putting a hand to his face. And for the first time since two years ago when he found out that Bubbles had died...he cried.

He didnt know how long he had been crying, but when he looked up, he saw Bubbles step out from the hall to the other side of the door and pull something out of her bodice...something that made Mojo blink and stop crying altogether. No...she really didnt have...she did. Bubbles pulled out a cigarette from her pack and put it to her lips, then used the tip of her finger to light it. She had just taken a drag when she looked up to see Mojo.

"....Hi," she said casually. Mojo couldnt help it; he began to laugh, and walked over to stand against the wall next to her.

"Hi," he replied. He nodded to her cigarette. "Still about with that filthy habit of yours?" he asked good-naturedly. Bubbles stuck her tongue out playfully at him.

"Yep," she said. "I havent quit since you first saw me, you know...I just smoke out of Him's range of smell...He cant stand the smell. Ironic, isnt it?" Mojo let out a bark of laughter.

"Indeed," he replied. He gestured to the stick. "...You're going to stain your dress with those ashes," he pointed out.

"That's why man invented bleach," she shot back, taking another drag. Mojo nudged her with his shoulder.

"Cheeky brat," he replied.

"Anal-compulsive ape," she countered. They both laughed, then stood in silence in the hallway for awhile longer. Finally, when Bubbles finished her cigarette, she ignited the butt until it incinerated completely, and turned to Mojo. "Ready to go back in?" she asked. Mojo nodded, then grabbed the pack of cigarettes from her and put them in his own coat pocket.

"I refuse to have you miss any festivities because of your insatiable craving for one of those coffin nails," he commented. They both laughed and reentered the reception hall, where Him was up on the stage with the mic, asking for Bubbles to join Him in their first dance to the song _Phantom of the Opera_ (another song they agreed on that described their relationship). Bubbles went up to join Him in a waltz, and Mojo stood up against the wall, seeing how everyone was partnered off.

Blossom was dancing with Brick, Buttercup was dancing with Butch (and Ace, who kept cutting in), and Boomer was dancing with the flower girl, Belial's daughter Salem. Mojo stood against the wall, content with watching, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Care to dance, handsome?"

He turned to see Lilith standing with one hand on her hip, giving Mojo a visual of a female Him for a moment before he nodded and let her lead him to the dance floor. They began dancing, and just in the middle of the song, Lilith pulled him in close and put her lips close to his ear. "Dont worry about her," she whispered. "We'll take good care of her. Our baby brother has never been able to find someone to love Him, and now that He does, we're not letting anything happen to her." She squeezed his shoulder and pulled back a little to continue dancing, and for the first time that day, Mojo began to completely enjoy myself, comforted by his daughter-in-law's encouraging words, despite her attempts to hit on him.

When the song ended, everyone applauded and Mojo turned to go get himself another glass of champagne when the sound of feedback from the mic made him turn to see Bubbles up on the stage. "If I can have your attention!" she called. "I would like to take this opportunity to ask for a father/daughter dance from my daddy....Mojo Jojo."

Everyone applauded encouragement as Mojo stared at Bubbles, then at Professor Utonium to see the professor smiling at him, nodding, letting Mojo know that Bubbles had gone over this with him beforehand. Mojo walked up toward Bubbles, who took his hand in one hand and put the other on his shoulder as the music started.

_From underneath the trees, we watch the sky  
Confusing stars for satellites  
I never dreamed that you'd be mine  
But here we are, we're here tonight_

_Singing Amen, I, I'm alive  
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive_

Bubbles had her head on Mojo's shoulder until Mojo picked up the pace and swung them out in a dramatic and graceful waltz.

_If everyone cared and nobody cried  
If everyone loved and nobody lied  
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride  
Then we'd see the day when nobody died_

Mojo felt a swell of love in his heart as he looked at his daughter, and suddenly realized that he now had everything he ever wanted; a comfortable life, recognition for something other than mass chaos...and a family. He felt a tear of joy run down his face as he he looked at the girl who had changed everything for him and turned his life a complete 180 into happiness; the girl who loved him and taught him to love others.

_And I'm singing_

_Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive  
Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive_

He held her tighter to him and spun them around, making her dress flair out, giving her the appearance of an angel. Mojo couldnt find a better word to describe the bundle of perfection in his arms.

_And in the air the fireflies  
Our only light in paradise  
We'll show the world they were wrong  
And teach them all to sing along_

_Singing Amen, I, I'm alive  
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive  
(I'm alive)_

Bubbles held onto her father tightly, smiling joyously at him as they danced; she was so happy that she had decided to make peace with him all those years ago; so happy that he had allowed her to come into his life, and not as an enemy. She couldnt have asked for anything better to happen to her than to have Mojo as her friend, and then her father.

_And as we lie beneath the stars  
We realize how small we are  
If they could love like you and me  
Imagine what the world could be_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried  
If everyone loved and nobody lied  
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride  
Then we'd see the day when nobody died  
When nobody died..._

As Mojo looked into those angelic eyes of Bubbles...he knew that he would die a happy man. He twirled Bubbles out gracefully and brought her back into his arms to give her a kiss on the forehead.

_We'd see the day, we'd see the day  
When nobody died  
We'd see the day, we'd see the day  
When nobody died  
We'd see the day when nobody died_

Bubbles hugged her father tightly, blinking back tears as she finally realized that she had found that same emptiness in her heart that Mojo had described as having. She had found her other parent. The puzzle was complete, and now she couldnt want for anything else in the world. Mojo pulled back to smile at her, then handed her back to Him and smiled at the couple.

Everyone then turned when they heard Butch jump up on the stage and declare that he wanted to sing a song that Him Himself had listened to while thinking of Bubbles, per Bubbles' request (he had watched Him dancing and singing along to this song with his Ocularis Infernum) .

Intrigued as to which song this was, Him allowed it, as He had had on many occasions danced and sang at random while thinking of Bubbles; not to mention, Butch was a very talented singer. Butch grinned and nodded to his brothers to cue music. Just the first few chords made Him turn a deep crimson red and wish He had never recreated those miscreants in the first place.

_I, I'm driving black on black  
Just got my license back  
I got this feeling in my veins this train is coming off the track  
I'll ask polite if the devil needs a ride  
Because the angel on my right ain't hanging out with me tonight_

Most of Him's family and the villains of Townsville were laughing by this point as the Utoniums were gaping with shock at Butch.

_I'm driving past your house while you were sneaking out  
I got the car door opened up so you can jump in on the run  
Your mom don't know that you were missing  
She'd be pissed if she could see the parts of you that I've been kissing  
Screamin'_

_No, we're never gonna quit  
Ain't nothing wrong with it  
Just acting like we're animals  
No, no matter where we go  
'Cause everybody knows  
We're just a couple of animals_

Him nervously looked as His father, who was actually _laughing_ at the display those boys were making!

_So come on baby, get in  
Get in, just get in  
Check out the trouble we're in!_

"...I am going to kill them," Him muttered to Himself.

_You're beside me on the seat  
Got your hand between my knees  
And you control how fast we go by just how hard you wanna squeeze  
It's hard to steer when you're breathing in my ear  
But I got both hands on the wheel while you got both hands on my gears  
By now, no doubt that we were heading south  
I guess nobody ever taught her not to speak with a full mouth  
'Cause this was it, like flicking on a switch  
It felt so good I almost drove into the ditch  
I'm screamin'_

_No, we're never gonna quit  
Ain't nothing wrong with it  
Just acting like we're animals  
No, no matter where we go  
'Cause everybody knows  
We're just a couple of animals_

Him looked at Bubbles, whose face was completely red as she gaped at Him as though saying 'What the _FUCK!?' _Not that He could blame her...

_So come on baby, get in  
Get in, just get in  
Check out the trouble we're in_

_We were parked out by the tracks  
We're sitting in the back  
And we just started getting busy  
When she whispered "what was that?"  
The wind, I think 'cause no one else knows where we are  
And that was when she started screamin'  
"That's my dad outside the car!"  
Oh please, the keys, they're not in the ignition  
Must have wound up on the floor while  
we were switching our positions  
I guess they knew that she was missing  
As I tried to tell her dad it was her mouth that I was kissing  
Screamin'_

_No, we're never gonna quit  
Ain't nothing wrong with it  
Just acting like we're animals  
No, no matter where we go  
'Cause everybody knows  
We're just a couple of animals_

_So come on baby, get in  
We're just a couple of animals  
Get in, just get in  
Ain't nothing wrong with it  
Check out the trouble we're in  
Get in, just get in!_

By this point, everyone was staring at Him, either from amusement or shock or--from the Professor and Mojo--much pissed-offedness. Shit, they were so pissed, He had to make up a word!

Butch gave a bow and got up off the stage and walked up to Him. "Congrats, Pops," he said smugly. "Just something else to add to the memory of your wedding." He looked at Bubbles. "...Hey, _YOU_ were the one who asked me to sing a song of what Him really thought about you two!" He walked away, laughing like a loon.

Bubbles stared at Him, who stared back.

"...He has _your_ sense of humor," Bubbles muttered, her face about as red as Him's skin. Him sighed.

"I know." He turned and saw the Professor and Mojo glaring at Him, their posture in the classic 'pissed-off father' pose--back straight, shoulders high, and arms crossed. "...That kid is **SO GROUNDED!!!**"

* * *

Mojo sighed as he shut the door to his observatory. It had been a most...interesting day, to say the least. A wedding in Hell's chapel...a reception in Hell _from_ Hell... He thought he had heard everything, but nooo....not when Butch started singing those filthy lyrics about what Him thought about His relationship with Bubbles...but in the Devil's defense, that might've been a song from their earlier days...

Rolling his eyes, Mojo took off his jacket and plopped down on the couch, and sighed. It was Friday; he had papers to grade by Sunday and a faculty council meeting tomorrow. It was bad enough feeling that empty nest syndrome in his heart, and now he had to actually _concentrate_ on things.... He sighed again and picked up his jacket to put it away when something fell out of the pocket. He picked it up.

...Bubbles' cigarettes.

"......."

Mojo picked up a lighter used for lighting candles, took one of the cigarettes out of the pack, put it to his lips, and lit it before taking a long drag. He watched the smoke rise as he exhaled, then reached over to turn on his radio as he picked up a red pen to grade those papers.

Maybe it was time for him to pick up a filthy little habit of his own.

* * *

**THE END**

**There be an epilogue next!  
**


	22. Epilogue

**Epilogue

* * *

**

Mojo slumped in his seat, his heart still beating fifty miles a minute, even though he had been sitting there for well over twelve hours. He looked up, seeing that the Professor was pacing back and forth in front of the door that held the source of their worries; the Boomer, Butch, and Buttercup were sitting in either side of him, looking about as nervous as he felt. _God_, he could use a cigarette right now...

It had been five years since Mojo's daughter had been married to the Devil known as Him (or, as they all recently discovered, whose given name was His Infernal Majesty). Five years of happiness for Bubbles, and five years of somewhat loneliness from Mojo. Sure, he had tried the dating scene, but none of them had ever worked out. None of them had that thing he was looking for; hell, even Mojo didnt know what that thing was! But he was far from a recluse; he had his job, which he loved, and he had his children, who visited him frequently.

Speaking of which, he thought back to how much every one of them had changed.

Blossom was currently working on her Doctorate in human science, and despite going on a few dates with Brick, had settled with a boy at her med school named Dexter. He was an odd boy, but the perfect match for Blossom, in Mojo's humble opinion.

Buttercup had also attempted more dates with Butch, but broke it off for good after four missed dates and fifteen late ones. She had gotten her business degree, and had gone into business with Ace, who had also gotten a business degree and they currently had a chain of clubs called _Ace of Spades_. After two years working together, Ace had asked Buttercup to marry him. Ignoring everyone's frantic and weirded-out comments about Ace being a decade older than her, Buttercup had said yes. They too seemed like a good match, since they were both shrewd businessmen and had no qualms about breaking balls when needed.

As for Mojo's boys, all three of them were still in Hell; they had gotten permission from Him's father to go into demon trades to become demons themselves. So far, Butch was doing the best as Apprentice Guardian of the Ocularis Infernum. Brick decided to take on the occupation of Soul Collector. Boomer so far hadnt shown any sign of talent in any demonic field. All three boys had girlfriends now, and seemed very happy.

Mojo sighed, adjusting his glasses on his nose; he was kind of peeved when he found out a year ago that he needed them because of near-sightedness. They made him feel old, even though he was only technically biologically 25 (he had only been four when the Girls were born and when he became Mojo Jojo; plus, the Girls were born at the physical age of 5 to begin with). He hadnt had any sleep for almost two days since Bubbles had gone into labor, and he was about ready to doze off when Brick ran out of the room, startling them all.

"It's a girl!" he cried, grinning like a maniac. "Blossom says one guest at a time--Dad, you're first!"

Mojo felt his heart swell up; his first grandchild...a girl. He shot up from his seat and bolted into the room, where Him was sitting on the bed next to Bubbles and was cuddling her as she held a pink bundle in her arms, her red and sweaty face looking fresh and glowing as she looked down into the little bundle. She looked up and saw Mojo, and smiled. "Hey," she said, her voice hoarse from--no doubt--all the screaming she did to have this child.

Mojo walked over to the bed and sat down on her other side. "How was it?" he asked softly, brushing her golden hair out of her face. Bubbles heaved a tired sigh, giving him a half-smile.

"Harrowing," she replied. "But so worth it." She held out the small pink bundle. "You want to see her?"

His heart racing faster than ever, Mojo took the bundle and folded open the pink blanket to reveal the face of his granddaughter.

She looked so much like Bubbles; she had inherited Bubbles' skin tone, but he could see that she was going to have her father's facial structure. Her eyes were open, and Mojo saw that she also had Him's eyes, but instead of black irises, they were blue. She had a tuft of black hair on her head that felt very soft, like Bubbles'. She also had slightly pointed ears like Him. She opened her mouth and yawned, making a soft, echo-like sigh as her eyes closed, then opened back up to look at him again.

"She's beautiful," Mojo told Bubbles and Him. "Perfect." Bubbles smiled and leaned against Him, who had His arm tightly around her.

"That she is," Him replied, giving Bubbles a kiss on her head. Bubbles giggled, and Mojo was shocked when the little girl in her arms did the same, sounding just like Bubbles, except her voice echoed a little.

"What are you going to name her?" Mojo asked. Bubbles and Him looked at each other, and Bubbles smiled.

"...Jojo," she said, laughing. Him gaped at her, not knowing if she was serious or not, but one look from Him, who gave him a '_It was her idea, not mine_' look told him that he was holding his new namesake. He looked back down at his granddaughter, who was giggling as though she had something to do with her own name, and hugged her very gently. He looked back up at Him and Bubbles, who were kissing; at Blossom and Brick, who were cleaning up after the birth; at the door, where everyone else was trying to get a peek at little Jojo...and he smiled as he cradled the baby to his chest.

Now, he knew...._now_ he had everything he could ever want.

* * *

**THE (REAL) END**


End file.
